


Defenders of the Realm

by SirLightKnight



Category: Stellaris (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: AM Writing more because people Liked it!, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Gen, HFY, Heros in SPACE, Let the kid have a Dreadnaught!, Midoriya Izuku is a Dork, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Some Humor, Stellaris Campaign used as basis for story, Uraraka Ochako is a Dork, Xenos are a pain, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:47:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 52,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24871027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirLightKnight/pseuds/SirLightKnight
Summary: Space.The final frontier, and perhaps the most daunting expanse humanity has yet endeavored to cross. In a world of super power, super intellect, strange abilities, and the many common people whom take part in a variety of fields, we as a species are endlessly curious. So we took our baby-steps into the galaxy, yet knowing what that would mean for our people...a destiny hallmarked with the same old grit we've come to know and endure. With our world Unity at our backs, and untold numbers of Xenos and dangerous life in the galaxy, it would come to reason we would protect ourselves as we have since our humble beginnings. Armed with our understanding, we marched forward, defending our worlds, and uprooting the threats of the galaxy. Heroes and Officers of humanity's last hope, we must outwit, outgun, and outmaneuver that which threatens our prosperity. Be it villainy, Xeno incursion, or some Galactic horror, we shall hold the line.Welcome Aboard, your Galactic Academy awaits.
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Eri, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Fukukado Emi | Ms. Joke, Asui Tsuyu & Uraraka Ochako, Asui Tsuyu/Tokoyami Fumikage, Class 1-A & Midoriya Izuku, Eri & Midoriya Izuku & Uraraka Ochako, Jirou Kyouka/Kaminari Denki, Midoriya Inko & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Inko & Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Midoriya Izuku & Uraraka Ochako, Midoriya Izuku & Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako
Comments: 67
Kudos: 46





	1. Know Our History: Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I DO NOT OWN MY HERO ACADEMIA! Horikoshi you lucky lucky man. Support the official release. I DO NOT OWN STELLARIS, that is a property of Paradox Interactive, a grand strategy game spanning the stars. Oh...and enjoy the beginnings of what might be either a fantastic universe or a fun little history lesson in Galactic Intrigue. The Galaxy is certainly a broad and beautiful thing. Sometimes I wonder what their world would be like if they had taken the time to reach out into the unknown. Enjoy.

**_U.A. Galactic Naval Academy: Defenders of the Realm_ **

**Prologue: _Know Our History_**

**Star Date: 11/12/2500**

**Capital Sector: Commonwealth of Man, Humanity**

**Sol System**

**Planet: Size 18 Habitable World…Earth**

**Re-designated: Unity (Post-Quirk Unification War rename, occurred star date 2150)**

_It is among man’s greatest curiosities, our endless drive toward the unknown. Be it the hearts of men in seeking common understanding, a longing for that which is beyond us, the next horizon, the next day, we drove forward. It comes as little surprise that we had, prior to AD 2150, or PQ 2150 (Post-Quirk) that we had been driving toward the next great scientific leap forward. Faster Than Light travel, or FTL for common phrase, captivated the minds of science fiction for all but two and a half centuries, since its theoretical consideration by Albert Einstein’s considerable work in relativity. It at one point or another was considered nay impossible for us to traverse the stars in such a manner, we hadn’t even the faintest idea…then 50 years after the great unification of our system, we finally graduated to the Galactic scale. Humanity had, for its greatest feat yet, climbed from the clutches of Sol, Home, to the great unknown. We had also discovered in this same scale of time, the existence of lanes in space which allowed the ease of passage for ships. The existence of which baffled researchers for years, although a common theory held that it had something to do with the distinct nature of gravity wells and star cluster distances…all measured in the hundreds of lightyears._

_Through the existence of anomalous entities and derelict stations…we came to know we did not inherently exist alone. It had long been held that it was likely life existed in the greater galaxy, but we had yet to run into anything intelligent. For that humanity had waited in bated breath for the next fifty years. Star system after start system, planet, after planet…nothing but the waste of a long-forgotten empire, the Irassian’s and the cruel fate which had befallen them. We even found their home system at around the same point as finding life among the stars, a both sober reminder of our own possible reality, and that of other life. Then came first contact…_

_It had been a fluke, a stroke of unimaginable luck that we had stumbled into their space, another FTL capable species! Our people wept with joy, cried in anguish, or leapt at the first chance to represent our people among the stars. Not without any trepidation mind you, we humans know one thing and that is to be warry of strangers… and other sentients for the sheer sake that we know ourselves. It came as no surprise that a vast majority of the world grew Xenophobic, although quirks had long sense nullified our issues with form, we of course were careful of their ambitions. It would seem however cruel, that they were far less receptive to us than we had hoped. Fanatic Purifiers…a true scourge to the galaxy, and though a dozen or more jumps from being anywhere close to Sol. Humanity set to building in choke points that could be held in the hopes of limiting possible interference or incursions from the Xenos. Our researchers had scrambled for static solutions to the problem, so we had devised the formation of Star fortifications, and had set to the formation of our Navy. Thus, birthed Strike force Cerberus…in its weakest most infantile form, nothing but corvettes to our name, we learned the ropes of Galactic warfare not on our first neighbors, as we had feared, but on the religious fanatics we would next meet. The Juvian Foundation._

_It is almost humorous how we even met them in the first place, exploring a system of Space Whales (their breeding grounds we later discovered), when they kicked us out of the system by building a small node like we had taken to doing across our claimed galactic space. We had met little to no-one in the south, the purifiers to the north, and these strange religious folk to the West if we viewed the galaxy as a singular plane on a map. Still we found a way to set off four main station corners. One for every route into our space, it took a lot of time, production, and effort, but we finally caught up to our established borders. Eventually one path in the south had us run into an Arthropodal species called the Multiyx. We had little to no major issues with them, and they left us alone, as we intended for the other empires. It would come as a surprise then, when the Juvians claimed our recently established fortified system on that border with the space whales, since we figured only a singular FTL lane and due to the way space storms behaved in that Whale system would slow them down to give us warning of possible ships. We were forever glad for the warning, as it appeared, we were to know their God, and if not by force…_

_It would be the first time we won a galactic campaign, although not exactly the last, it would be our most positive victory. The fortified system deterred any possible movement into our space, and had for a time, kept the war in stalemate. Our corvettes arrived, and we took to claiming systems. It was a slaughter, as our advanced Corvette design paired with our numbers overwhelmed all Juvian defenses in the region…funny enough we had this base within 4-5 jumps of their home system. It was a swift, if not easy campaign after their fleet was crushed. It was the most positive moment our people would have for the next two and a quarter century, untainted by any other problems…enter the Index._

_The Index, as we’ve grown to call them, or the Mechanazor Index, proper, are a race of Robotic Immortals built from some strange amalgamation of machinery birthed near the galactic core. For the longest time, we hadn’t even known of their existence, and almost overnight we grew to know the name well. Belligerent, aggressive, technologically advanced, and with little need for creature comforts, they took to FTL like experienced runners. And to War like no other entity yet known to man. The mighty Purifier’s to our north, in their aggressive expansion grew to block our borders with any possible Index contact, but that lasted no longer than a Decade. Two wars were all it took to wipe them off the Galactic map. The Galactic community, (now formalized in a large diplomatic system much like the ancient UN of Earth) was rapidly set into chaos for a while, wondering what exactly had caused the wars in the first place, and further, how powerful this Robotic horde really was…and we knew. It isn’t a common thing for Beuregard’s hold (northern Fortification in the West, differentiated from the Juvian bordered Western Stronghold and the furthest North defensive system in the Tem System), to call in frantically to Unity, as it had become a sleepy, but developing system, with a vast array of defensive platforms and steady central fortress. We had taken to giving power designations based upon fleet composition, estimated weapon’s strength, and fleet size. The Star Fortress ranked as a hulking mass, well higher than 20K in power, dwarfing the Corvette fleets of possible threat empires in most of the surrounding systems…and they had seen a 30K fleet of Index ships scuttle past when the War had begun. Panic set in, particularly in the leadership to meet this new threat in equal strength. New ship classes devised based on older ideas of naval warfare, Destroyers, Cruisers, and the eventual Battleship were all theorized to be capable of being built (should the need arise)._

_We were in the final testing phase of our Battleship program when in 2290 war came to us, and the Index struck first from both possible entry points, Tem and Beauregard. Caught unawares and underprepared for this new powerful threat, their fleets crashed through our recently established colonial sector in the furthest eastern reaches. Worlds like Apollos, Aurglmir, and our recently established trade world Ploutos (one of the only core worlds to be hit in the first war) were overtaken within months, and we lost the core trade lane connecting our Generator, Mine, and general trade network from collapsing. Yet we still did not faulter. Humanity soldiered on, as if the weight alone was not worthy our concern. The machine had made a critical error, in assuming we would loose so easily. Slowly human craft baited and reopened trade lanes, although we couldn’t completely loose the captured planets, this did allow our agricultural world in the south (Pamona), was able to provide food and aid un-challenged by the invaders through the northern corridor, and despite the trouble we slowly retook planet after planet. System after system however, still faced constant raids, and we were fortunate enough to actually isolate one of their fleets between two of our own, weaker alone, but strong together. Caught in a pincer, they had no-where to run, and luckily our war with them only resulted in the loss of Beauregard’s hold, and a single Western system that had once been Juvian territory._

_Humanity would recover, and over the course of the next 10 years after war’s end in 2330, we recovered our strength from our only win (Pyrrhic victories ring hollow to me, although we still beat them back, the villains) and redoubled our efforts to catch up. A fatal flaw in the Index’s strategy was assuming us unable to salvage parts from the various battles, and through this we gained on our technological inferiority to a suitable level. And this pattern would be true for the next war, which would be just as arduous and costly. Countless ships would be lost in the ensuing chaos, and although difficult we were able to deal sufficient damage to enemy incursions through this methodology. Humanity even stole the pride of the Index’s engineering, the illustrious Jump Drive! With this, better cores, and better weapons, we slowly gained on them in the next conflict which started a little after 2340 until 2370, in which we took back both systems from the Index, only after they took to our systems yet again, and we were able to chase them into various costly skirmishes. We eventually took those two systems back, and in the ensuing peace began planning our greatest strategy based upon what we had learned from these war’s and our own understanding of interrupting a trade system. This time we would be ready, with our full power on display, as the two weak fleets were merged into a single powerful force, as a second smaller force was to be created to back it up._

_The index foolishly declared war, and instead of aiming for our systems (or allowing them time) we crashed into the central north section with the incomplete and smaller fleet. It took the desired extended empire’s main lane, making anything traversing to the north completely impossible without our notice. Their fleets, caught in the midst of transit, were unable to intercept, and once they did reach the desired systems, our navy warped out back to allied space. In this move, we lost no ships, and though combat ineffective for a period, much like in the great gambit at the end of the last war, we were able to then plunge for a strong blow. Paving into their core systems near the galactic center, with our largest, strongest fleet, any straggling smaller craft were unable to reach the growing main force of the Index, a surprisingly powerful 60K strong fleet one of the strongest in the known galaxy, we did not waver. Once it reclaimed all but the planets we had captured, it returned to their space diving back to the core as we had anticipated. Our capital fleet, having done its job, returned back to the Western Stronghold, the most fortified place in the Commonwealth, and met up with the weaker fleet. 30K and 18K respectively, it was impossible for them to challenge the main Index fleet…but not the weaker ones. In a rapid action, the fleets retook the contested central zone, allowing us to cut their greater empire in half, while still defending our main systems. Refining our composition, we began plans for an even greater ship…the Titan. Knowing the great cost of such an investment, and our thinly stretched resources, it was deemed imperative to capture those central systems, taking a dark matter production site (the Great Wound as it was known). This heavy planning for future expansions to the Commonwealth were made in the hopes to prevent Xeno domination of the region and, by proxy the elimination of our own species. Again, the Fleets were merged after the last great battle, where we fought the third of their 30K fleets, and winning we achieved naval dominance of all but the main enemy fleet. Combining the fleets yet again under Cerberus lead to our first 50K full fleet…that we were barely able to maintain. Still, through perseverance and some economically careful maneuver, we were able to achieve somewhat equality with the enemy’s strength, enough so that once we won the war, we could begin preparations for the next war. I and any academic who knows of this period, are well versed in the coming war, and most of their military theorist rapidly acknowledged that the Index would not take this loss sitting down, so we began to plan anew. The corvettes are slowly eased out of service in the main fleets over the coming period, shrinking the main force to only accommodate a 38K mainstay power._

_The Great Khan had made their presence known on the other side of the galaxy, and while not an immediate threat, the capitulation of one of our Rival states caused concern (as it had become a vassal). Still, we sought to hold on to our recently claimed Gateway location, and through a bit of fortune we gained access to a ringworld (It would not be accessed until recent history). Due to these leaps in technological progress, and the activation of this Megastructure, and then the proceeding construction of our first Science Nexus, we began planning for the next major conflict. First however, we defeated the great Khan’s small fleets, and scattered their core control almost all the way to their core systems. There would soon be a coupe and they would no longer pose a threat to Commonwealth interest for the foreseeable future. It is important then that our predecessors refocused back on the Index, as no other empire in our immediate space has the ability nor the capacity for an actual war with us._

_Their numbers grew, and again they asserted a level of dominance that set them as the second most powerful fleet force in the Galaxy, second only to the Galacian star empire in the majority of the North. Fortunately, we began construction of the fleet that would become pivotal to the defeat of Index forces for the foreseeable future, the Titan fleet Manticore. This taskforce acts as a support fleet to the Titan weapon’s system, and as a strike carrier fleet capable of eliminating most screening craft in the enemy’s fleet composition. Using point defense craft as a screen, and Neutron Cruisers as a rotating heavy hitting force, it is meant to pepper enemy craft and stations with long distance fire and dissuade approach. In the fourth war in the 2400s it, paired with Cerberus were able to ward off enemy fleets and repeat the successful distraction campaigns of prior wars. Unable to adapt, or perhaps unwilling, the Index fell prey to a combined invasion strategy, whereby we took strategic Pulsar systems to eliminate their shield advantage and build specific fortifications to dent their ability for success. The campaign was met with a resounding success. And though odd, they had built their Science Nexus (and were near completing it) and Sensory Array in their disconnected Northern systems (on our border, something which baffles even the staunchest of strategic planners) which we proceeded to capture. This pared with the acquisition of a planet proved fruitful along with the two choke node systems we had chosen for isolating the Index’s offensive capacity. With the Titans of Manticore (steadily we now have two and a planned third) and the main fleet of Cerberus, it is within reason that humanity would be satisfied. More secure borders, no major new threats, and satisfactory technical development. But it is understandable that we still anticipated the Index. As such, our unstable economy, needed stability, through the construction of the ultimate energy credit farm, and humanity’s possible greatest success…the Dyson sphere in the Kleid system in the Capital sector. No major planets, no fauna, and no threat to a sacred constellation has allowed us the ability to plan and build our structure with no repercussions. It proved invaluable once its construction was complete for the next war. The most recent conflict of the late 2400s bore the fruit of the Dyson Sphere’s initial stage completion, and though the star shines less brightly in our night sky, the security it brings in its creation brings all of humanity hope. Our continued success in the Navy is to impress upon the galaxy that Humanity and by extension all under our care will be protected at all cost._

_This new energy credit boom provided the government with the appropriate Alloy income to upkeep and build the expanded fleet, making us one of the most uncontested forces in the known galaxy, at 50K strength each (although 50 and 38 at the war’s beginning to be specific and clear) these defenders of humanity not only beat the Index deep into their core systems but also caused a complete route under the command of Admiral Toshinori Yagi “All Might” of the Executor (Titan) in taskforce Manticore, and through the support of Admiral Enji Todoroki “Endeavor” on the Battleship Hollenfeuer. Forced into Neutral space, and in heavy retreat in a bid for a long grasp at our own space, they were forced to warp out into a locked away space, trapped behind a trade empire and what appears to be a deadly Fallen robotic empire, that has yet to fully activate, but that fully destroys any force which traverses its space. Perhaps a fluke of programming or by our own doing, the enemy’s inability to act is now our greatest boon, making it impossible for the Index to recover economically to the same level as the Commonwealth, whilst simultaneously locking up their capacity to fight behind a technological limitation. The greater Galaxy is still full of unknown dangers, and the forces of humanity should stand guard for our continued safety, it is in this I hope to apply to this academy proper and defend the rights and liberty of Mankind. It is my hope to further the expanse of heroism like those who’ve marched valiantly before me._

_Signed,_

_Izuku Midoriya_

_Aldera Middleschool, Mustafu prefecture_

**SUBMISSION FOR ADMISSION TO U. A. NAVAL ACADEMY**

**APPROVAL STATUS: ACCEPTED FOR EXAMINATION  
EXAMINATION PERIOD: 12/15/2500 to 12/20/2500**

**AUTHORIZATION: Nedzu, Principal/Admiral Adeptus**

** Narration: **

I hadn’t known it at the time, at that point I was but a fledgling, flickering ember. Through my own effort, the courage of others, and the kindness of but one man…these would be my stumbling first steps. As one day, I would come to know myself as one of the greatest Heroes of all time, and defender of Humanity. It was, however, not the smoothest Journey…much to my mother, mentor, and loved one’s consternation.


	2. Chapter 1: Hearth of Heroes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note, I do not own my Hero Academia. Horikoshi, the manga company, and animation company have this honor. Please support the Official Release! Thank you all for the support! Oh and sorry for the wait...I uh...got carried away. I hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 1: Hearth of Heroes**

Star Date: 1/25/2500

Location: Unity; Japan: Mustafu Prefecture, Midoriya Residence

Beep…

Beep…

Beep…

Beep…

Beep…!

The All Might alarm clock (Trademark Hero Commission official version), rang sharply into the room. Its strong sharp noise jolting the quietly resting boy from his otherwise peaceful dreams of Katsudon and All Might themed heroism…

” Ugh, what time is it?” He groaned, a silent prayer to anyone who would listen that he didn’t have school today…he was unfortunate to find it to be Friday, and not the Saturday of his dreams.

 **“GOOD MORNING YOUNG MAN!!”** The holographic projection of his Hero sprung to life from the clock, a lovely feature he’d waited in line to acquire a few years back. Not to mention how he’d stayed up all night, spent a quarter of his savings, and had gotten a small scolding for putting this much of his own money into getting it. But he’d been adamant to his mother, the soft, kind soul that she was, that it was a solid investment in getting the limited-edition item…she’d forgiven him rapidly anyway, even without the promise of decent collector value. Plus, she couldn’t help but notice the slight pep in his step after the first morning being awoken by his hero. Suffice to say, if Hizashi wasn’t going to be around to help wake him up and brighten his morning, at least the hero could fill her precious boy with just a bit more joy to survive the day.

 **“And now for today’s!”** The projected behemoth flexed, a feat which would normally rock a room as small as his own. **“WEATHER!!”** He pointed to the statistics above his right bicep and predicted a sunny day with, yet another bright point to add to his morning. It had rained all night, so maybe he could catch a rainbow on the way to school. With this new knowledge, he rubbed his eyes just as the preset podcast choice kicked in, his hero waving, making an exit as the radio show all the way from the Stronghold (Home base to U.A. and the Commonwealth Navy) got ready to start. Gosh he loved that it aired about the time he woke every morning, else, he’d have to find some other way to relax on his way to school.

A bright jazz filled the room, a new voice, wide open like always…

“HEEELLLLLLOOOOOOOO LISTNERS! IIIITS PRESENT MIC coming at you live across the cosmic airwaves! I hope my listeners are getting it on out there, and if not, let me bring some power to that station, YEA!! I’d do the weather, but there’s so many of you listeners spread across the commonwealth that we’d be here all day, night, or some time on that cosmic highway! Soooooooooo…GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, AFTERNOON, AND GOOODNIGHT! EVERYBODY SAAAAAAY HEEEEEY! We’ve got a wonderful lineup on the track for the next couple hours and some minor announcements coming outta U.A.! Ace Captain and U.A. rising star, Mirio Togata has taken the U.A. Maneuvers and Sports festival by storm! Making for an impressive showing after his dismal first year!.....”

Izuku slowly turned, grabbing his wireless earphones, popping them in as he slowly scoots off his bed to keep listening passively as he got up to start his day in earnest. Not that he was particularly energetic, just another day in his ‘wonderful’ life, but he made for the bathroom to get ready anyway. He can already hear his mother bustling about, which went to figure, she was already up like always, he worried at how well she might be sleeping… he sighed. Still in a groggy haze, he checks the time on the mirror’s heads up display, 0600, 6 AM…so long as he got to class early and without trouble, he was more than happy to take this inconvenience. Maybe he could get in a good jog…he could use the light PT.

His stomach growled as he spit out his toothpaste.

 _“Okay food, then PT.”_ He smiled wryly at his reflection before washing his face and heading to the kitchen.

As he had figured, his mother busily tended breakfast, fixing him up a healthy portion of something…western. _“Sausage, Eggs, and…Pancakes?”_ Interesting choice, they didn’t eat American often. Still, they’d picked up the taste after Izuku had found out about All Might’s American obsession after doing some slight research at age 6. His mother had made it occasionally for him as a nice comfort food. He really hoped she hadn’t picked up on his scuff marks yesterday, this all but confirmed he was wrong. Still—he loved her to death for thinking of him—best mom in the world for all his flaws. Sitting down at the table, he made sure to smile brightly, she deserved a good morning too after all.

“Morning Mom…” his groggy voice lightly graced her ears, as she eased his fresh full plate onto the table. “Good morning sweetie, I’ve some Maple Syrup if you want.” Placing a soft kiss on his forehead, and a small hug, she walked back to grab her own portions. “Thanks, I’d like some. I’ll have to head out soon, do you have anything you want me to pick up after school today?”

She slipped the syrup onto the table as she sat down across from him, her own glass of very light coffee simmering comfortably as she sipped. “No, no, groceries should be fine until tomorrow. I think we might be a little low on pork…if someone wants Katsudon…” She smiled conspiratorially, as if he wouldn’t take that bait any day. “Say no more, I’ll spend it all on pork cutlets!” They both giggled happily, oh he looooved when they got to splurge for his favorite.

Maybe this week was going to end well after all.

_______________________________________________________

This week was turning out AWESOME!

He sprinted down the street, his foot splashing a puddle as he passed, full steam ahead. A hulking, shark-faced giant stood before him in the distance, crashing through support beams above the rail network. Roaring in anger, the man slammed his hand on the rails. Cornered, pissed, and clearly going down with a fight, Izuku arrived around the same time as some local Heroes. He couldn’t believe it…a hero fight, on a Friday, on his school route, and he was probably going to get to class early anyway!

His notebook was out before he could even consciously consider it. Backdraft quickly set up a perimeter to assist the police, who’d already cordoned off the scene…juuust in case a thrill seeker thought this was their lucky day. “Please, everyone, remain calm and keep your distance. I’d hate for anyone to be hurt by any fallen debris. I would recommend informing anyone you need to contact if this has interrupted your commute. Thank you all for your patience!” Izuku’s hands got to scribbling, getting to look this up close explained sooo much about backdraft’s move set. He may have watched a couple dozen videos on the local man, but he’d never gotten a view this close.

Yet again he smiled in awe as Death Arms rushed to catch a falling beam…oh he’d been lucky, that was going his way…still again, his brain geeked out at levels he thought impossible on a school day. A small mumble tumbled from his lips…ah so that was how Death Arm’s strength operated…augmented reinforcement paired with industrial press level strength. He watched closely as the Hero bent the beam to make it easier to handle and moved it to the side in a slight toss. Grunting, he looked up in aggravation, “Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me, can you skumbags wait until I’ve had at least one cup of coffee? Hey, backdraft, might be good to move that crowd back a little more. I might be strong, but I ain’t fast, don’t want to miss any beams and get someone hurt!”

“On it! Everyone, would you please move back…” Izuku tuned out the hero as he moved in conjuction with the small crowd at the front, not taking his eyes off the Villain…purse snatcher? Purse snatcher…wow that was, less than impressive a motive to cause this… A blur of brown and blue rockets above the crowd as a new Hero swoops into the scene. Ah that must be…

“KAMUI WOOOODS!~” Some fan girl’s swoon, as Izuku joins in, with notably less swoon and more excitement. Oh, he was new! _‘I can get some great notes out of this, he’s a recent debut! SO COOL!’_ He’d watched a few videos of him, particularly the first major public villain fights he’d been in, Hero tube had exploded at the new addition, and he’d shown so much promise. Now, he can really see what the man is made of…beside the obvious wood.

“Assault, Robbery, and Disrupting morning traffic, you truly are the incarnation of Villainy! Please, surrender now or face justice!” _Stay cool Kamui, you’ve got this, remember your training…oooop that’s a big claw!_ The morning wood hero jumped to the side and up onto a rail car, just in time to doge a particularly heavy-handed swipe from the now panicking purse snatcher. This new guy was slippery, fast…and chatty. Big man no like small wood man. “RAAAAAAGH, BACK THE HELL OFF YOU DAMN TREE!” He snarled, moving for yet another swipe, he was already a tad late to stop his fate…one way or another. Izuku’s eyes shined with adoration as he all but bounced in place, calling out the signature move with the hero, “Lacquered Chain Pris…!”

“CANNNNNYOOON CANNON!” A gigantic woman roared as she all but sprinted, and then proceeded to double leg kick the Shark man. Kamui stood still…shocked, angry, a little disappointed, and no shortage of confused at the appearance of the giant hero. Wait. She stole his capture. What the hell?!

“Hi everybody, pleased to make your ass-cquaintance, I’m Mount Lady.” She winked as she lightly fondled her—Izuku’s brain short circuited for a moment at such a bold display. Kamui by contrast, had some mixed feelings on the matter. Just one patrol without a stolen case. Ugh. “HEY! What about me?! That was my capture!”

Still even as Izuku put himself back together, the more, opportunistic observers took out cameras, and no shortage of other recording equipment. “Money shot, Money shot, Money shot!” And while Izuku wouldn’t stoop that low, he couldn’t help but note the view. _‘I mean sexy counts for something, and the surprise entrance was effective, if less showy. To avoid losing out like Kamui, be quick, direct, and effective…if maybe more considerate of my surroundings. How much damage did she do in that attack? Why is she in a city? Wouldn’t she do way better in an urban area like on Pamona?’_ He scribbled away, catching the eye of an odd-looking onlooker, the old guy was nice enough though, “Oh hey, taking notes kid? Guess you wanna be a hero huh? Good luck, you’ve got it!” Izuku paused, he’d needed that, even if it was probably an empty complement, the small things help you know. His smile brightened the area around him, he couldn’t help but be a bit cheery, even if the man knew nothing of his…circumstances.

“Thanks! I’ll do my best!”

What a wonderful day!

___________________________________________________

Well.

Shit.

He shouldn’t have been this optimistic. Karma swings both ways, guess he took too much all at once today. Or at least, that was his own personal assessment.

He’d been scribbling notes waiting for the teacher for last period, the man had left to grab some paperwork, which had given everyone free time. No friends meant more hero surfing at the very least, and he’d already finished his homework for the day a few minutes ago. He was in the middle of rewatching this morning’s incident from a helicopter cam recording posted by the Hero Association, this angle had provided him with so much data. Approach angles, placement tactics more broadly, how other Heroes that he hadn’t seen had responded by helping the police keep civilians away. And impressively, he’d caught Mount Lady’s approach AND Gigantification speed. That was one hell of a find, since he doubted anyone on any of the forums had caught that yet, since they were more focused on ribbing her for the fanservice, oogling, or talking about Kamui’s wind up time.

 _‘He really needs to address that timing issue, if he’d prep the move a little mid-flight, he could catch his opponent off guard and bind from afar, he’s shown he can launch from a good distance…Gigantification…that was 3 seconds, from mid-run street level to full Giant run. How much stress does that put on her bones and musculature? Does she have any drawbacks for growing that quick? Balance issues maybe? Good use of momentum though…’_ His thoughts are interrupted as the door opens up, his teacher holding a full stack of papers. He hadn’t noticed, but clearly everyone had been chatting quite loudly, he turned off his earphones and tucked them into his backpack. No need to have those taken at the end of the day.

“I hope you all used this time productively, as we’ll now be considering your future career opportunities!” The man grinned like a goof ball and had Izuku not known him to be a bit lenient for student behavior, he’d have found him much less of a pain as an instructor. It wasn’t that Izuku held anything against the man, he just really didn’t like how this class tended to be, and he’d missed something… “Although, I think we all know exactly what you all want to do! Be Heroes in the Commonwealth Navy!” The room erupted in activity, shouts of approval, joy, and general illicit quirk usage—ah the Aldera touch—although that didn’t stop him from feebly raising his own hand. Even if the world liked to kick his dream in the gut, he’d loved space once he first learned about it, and Heroes since he could breath. He still had that onesie somewhere…even if he knew no one would want to date a Quirkless, hopeless, hero otaku looser, he kept it as a memento of happier days and with the shadow of a hope to pass it on…his kids would look cool in All Might. A boy could dream. Plus, he knew his mom liked remembering that time in their life.

“Settle down, settle down, remember, no quirk usage in public, let alone in class.” The teacher mock scolded; wasn’t like he’d enforce it anyway so long as no one got ‘hurt’. Plus, Japan’s never had the best policy on bullying, so he really didn’t expect much. Speaking of which a set of small arrogant booms rocked the room. The crackle mimicking small firecrackers, as Katsuki Bakugou all chuckled, “You losers need a reality check, half of you would barely even make it as some D-lister, let alone make it into a Hero course or through Naval Selection. I’m the only one who even has a chance of hitting the top! I’ve aced all the mock exams, rocked the simulations, and my Quirk? Phenomenal, powerful, and way too useful to not take the top spot. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t wind up the most Decorated Hero of all time!”

And they took exception to that.

Several, rather boldly for their constant fear of the veritable ticking time bomb, jumped at the chance to call him out for being, “Rude”, “Jackass”, and “Logistics would LOVE me” (Izuku did note that the kid’s hands would, in fact, be great for sorting items. Although that was far from necessary crew, or flashy, it was an important job.) To which the walking Nitroglycerine factory firmly got ready to scold the room for being a bunch of ‘extras’ as was his norm. Much to Izuku’s silent chagrin, and slight joy, the teacher avoided this by noting, “Oh, since you noted Bakugou, aren’t you applying to U.A.?” _‘Fantastic, yes, feed his already Endeavor strength ego, that will help tremendously.’_ This was met with the obvious awe and adoration, “Wow, he’s going for the Galactic school?”, “Wait isn’t its exception rate in the low hundreds?”, “I hear the application rejection alone is in the high 90th percentile range!”, “Wow!”. Bakugou of course, began to preen like some avian xeno, happily lapping up his ‘earned’ glory. Not to disparage him, he did indeed have a formidable record. This went on for a few more moments.

Only for his teacher to stumble over a landmine and ruin the rest of his day. “Not the only student to take such a bold step, I’m surprised! Midoriya, you’re taking a go at the application as well?” _‘Ah.’_

_‘Shit.’_

The class laughed. Like they always did when Izuku’s dream came to light. It wasn’t like he didn’t constantly hear their whispers in the halls, giggling, and scoffing at what he thought was right. For wanting to be able to save people. Even if he had no natural affinity for it like many people with quirks, he dreamed of the chance to help. Hell, he’d take just being a pilot. If he was being realistic with himself, but…he…he just…

He could never give up on being at least a hero once.

Then he could die happy.

Still. It hurt.

“Midoriya?”, “Like some Quirkless kid could even last a month in space!”, “He’s a hopeless idiot.”, “Do they even allow people like him in Hero schools? Let alone the Navy?”

The last two caught his ears, as he quietly, although with panicked squeaks, “B-but the N-n-navy has always allowed Quirkless people as a-a g-general rule! A-and U.A. r-recently removed their Q-quirkless restriction! U-um I…I just want t-to he-help…” Still he shrank back into his chair, all but praying to be swallowed whole just to avoid this terribly embarrassing debacle. His teacher wasn’t of much help—if he didn’t know any better, he’d assumed that had been a malicious bait to allow them to pick on him—and Bakugou responded the most powerfully.

“DEKU! You worthless, Quirkless, weasel! Do you not realize how much you’d hold back the Navy?! You’d barely be worth heaving in front of artillery shells, let alone doing anything productive! And Heroics? How the hell can your scrawny ass do much of anything against a villain?!” Explosions rocked his desk as Izuku stuttered in surprise. After all, small fires licked at his desk, and sprung close to his hands, making him all but jerk back to pull away from the hot head’s incursion.

He would have recited his knowledge of the various non-quirked fighters, including Eraserhead, Midnight, and a few others. And while they used their quirks to their advantage, he was _sure_ he could find support equipment to make up for his lacking. And what did anything in the Navy have to do immediately with quirks? Sure, it made things easier or added to the rapidity of moment in one form or another, but generally he’d aced his piloting sims, done alright at strategic sims, and was top of his class (second only to Katsuki, who actually got resources, unlike him). He had a reasonable chance of succeeding in AT LEAST one capacity. And while he might be a bit twiggy, he was getting better. He’d taken to jogging to school to help with his stamina and legs.

Plus…wasn’t it helping people the entire point of being a hero? To make people smile, whatever the situation, in the face of the dangers the Cosmos threw into the faces of man. Was that not enough for them?

Why couldn’t they see it?

Why did his dreams mean nothing?

Why couldn’t he have nice things?

__________________________________________________

Speaking of which, he never got to keep his things in mint condition. From snapped erasers, busted pencils, to pens, and the occasional scuff on his backpack or uniform (prominently his shoes). Izuku was constantly battered for his efforts, if not by Katsuki, but by someone else who more than often was at least tangentially associated with his class. Which had actually been slowly dispersing as he came to notice how good he had gotten at avoiding them. It may have been how well he could run now (since none of his classmates had a speed quirk), but the only person who could ever catch him in a dead sprint was Kacchan (he slips up and uses the old nickname from time to time. He would like to think they could be friends again…one day). But he was his most vulnerable at the end of the day, as, despite being harangued for his dreams, the end of class had gone surprisingly smooth. They’d finished filling out paperwork and been allowed a free end to the period once they were done. As someone with an affinity for writing a rather large amount of content in a short period of time, Izuku was done rather quickly. But he had waited until after Bakugou had turned his piece in, so as to avoid antagonizing the already extremely agitated perfectionist.

Needless to say, his hopes were for naught, as he’d just finished making an entry in one of his hero notebooks, and put away the Naval one, the green boy failed to notice them until it was too late.

And #13 sat smoldering between Kacchan’s hands.

He’d been able to spare literally every other book, slip them away before any damage could come to their pages. He didn’t want to lose the hours, upon hours of research, hunting through forums, videos, and questionable websites to find footage of on/off record hero activity. Including, his all prized recent Eraserhead findings. Those had cost him buying them on an old CD drive (most modern equipment either used flash drives or holo-drives), getting a conversion kit, and finding a way to make sure the disk hadn’t had any malicious code. He’d been extremely relieved that not only was the footage good…it’d been enlightening, and no bad code. And due to the nature of the deal, he was also pretty sure he’d gotten one of the only copies.

No, he hadn’t told his mother.

And Kacchan had tossed his dreams out the window. Despite his frantic protest. “NoOo!” He’d squeaked, all but terrified at loosing such a prized possession. Now he’d need to check and make sure it wasn’t too damaged. He silently fumed, although, tears both angry and sad pricked his vision. He looked up to give Bakugou a tough lashing, at least to tell him how mean it was, only to see a hand latch on to his left shoulder. A small, burning sensation beginning to pulse through as Izuku looked up, terror in his eyes at the proximity. “Hey, I want you to know, just don’t apply to U.A.” a false tone of kind charitability. “I’m something of a perfectionist, and every hero has an origin story. I want to be the first hero to come from this dump, let alone go to U.A. and YOU,” he shoved an accusatory finger into Izuku’s chest, “are in the way of that. So, let me say it again. Don’t apply to U.A.” He slowly turned away, almost missing the determined, yet teary eyed boy’s almost attempted to stand up for himself. A small crackle of his quirk made Izuku lean back…he really didn’t want to get any more today. Maybe, just maybe he’d get out of this without any more problems. Beside feeling terrible, possibly loosing ages of research, and he’d maybe have to re-write everything from memory. He wouldn’t pretend he wasn’t pissed, but it made him so utterly tired…there went his Saturday if he couldn’t recover anything.

But of course…he wasn’t allowed to have a nice day.

“Oh, and if you really want to be a Hero, or do anything worth while in the Navy, maybe you could take a swan dive off the roof! Maybe in your next life you might not be so useless.” Katsuki’s little group of goons laugh a little as they walk out alongside him. Giggling out little jabs at his pride...

“Isn’t he pathetic?”

“He’s so delusional.”

“What a hopeless looser.”

Izuku barely cognizant for a moment, registers to suggestion, and recoils. Tears slowly run down his cheeks, a hand scraping up to his eyes from his cheek. A small, sad, lost reply ghosting from his lips, “T-that’s n-not how to be a hero…kacchan.” He sulks as he picks up his bag strap, and slowly drags himself down the hall.

Useless Deku, wasn’t allowed nice things.

Let alone to dream of the stars.

____________________________________________________________

Midoriya arrived at the small koi pond just below his class window and had searched the grounds surrounding it for a moment before seeing a small wet cover jutting from above the surface, barely on the concrete tiles. He rubbed his hand over his face, slightly exhausted from the whole affair. He waltzed up to the little pond and, noticing a koi nibbling on it, looked at it as he grabbed the book’s spine and yoinked it from the pond. He sighed, “No, no, my dreams aren’t fish food, go on get away from it.” His tone demure, reserved, almost depressed, he flipped through, to check the quality of the ink. To his relief, and surprise, no major damage except to the exterior. _‘Thank goodness, I can actually relax with mom tomorrow, and not have to struggle remembering every detail I’ve got. Asshole.’_ He grumbled, “Kacchan, you don’t just tell anyone, let alone someone you’ve known for ages to kill themselves. What would happen if someone actually did it? That’s a good way to get someone killed.”

Still, he grabbed his stuff, whipped it off on his pant leg, and walked on his usual route home. 2 Kilometers, and only one spot was remotely scary. The old underpass bridge mind you no one really hangs around it, and its honestly a relatively safe area. It just…it looked kinda creepy if you really just took it in for aesthetic purposes, but in a sprawling city with almost millions crammed on row after row of reinforced infrastructure, this old bridge honestly gave him the least trouble. He was sure heights would give him some concern for a bit if he was brutally honest with himself. At least until he found something cool to think about up there…you know Hawks isn’t a bad one to consider.

But what of All Might? He was sure the man was all too comfortable sailing through the sky. So free from the confines of Earthly restrictions. He figured, if he couldn’t ever reach the sheer power threshold of All Might, he could still save people with a smile…gosh it all started with that smile.

:2491 Midoriya residence:

“Mom, Mom, Mom! The Video, please, please, please! I was extra good today. Oh, Oh, I-I’ll eat my veggies momma! Pleeeeeeaaaaase!” An energetic ball of pure joy bounced around his room; he’d just gotten back from playing in the park with Kacchan after school. And while Kacchan hadn’t been the nicest…he’d just got his cool quirk. Izuku’d been all but vibrating at the prospect of being able to be a hero with his friend. And maybe with his idol… All Might! The Greatest. In Izuku’s humble little opinion. He scrambled into his chair, toy in hand, ecstatic as he vibrated in hyper kid energy. With a little smile that honestly, made Inko’s day. She loved her little hero, his dream…may be a bit scary and a hair much for her nerves. But she simply loved to see his eyes light up, those freckled cheeks puffing with glee at the prospect of simply being able to help. Let it be said, she’d do anything for her baby, and she would back up his choices no matter what. Even if they weren’t…well safe, as long as he was doing something he liked.

Well who was she to say no to those adorable little eyes.

She gave him a quick hug from behind and helped scoot the chair up closer so the boy wouldn’t risk tipping out. “Honestly sweetie, I’m not sure I like this video, it seems awfully scary to me…” She wasn’t entirely honest. It made her more nervous than anything, mainly since her son CLEARLY wanted to emulate this. But…well, look at that man. If she was brutally honest with herself, if Hizashi didn’t clean up his act and get more involved in her Son’s life? Gosh it’d be nice to fall into those safe super arms…she was sure this was probably an interplanetary women’s agreement somewhere. He might be a bit too much muscles for her immediate liking but, man he had a dazzling smile. Ah her son’s favorite part was up! She glanced down to catch his reaction.

Izuku was basically beyond himself with joy. He loved this part. The men in space gear aboard the Battleship _Artemis_ , had sustained a heavy breach. While still in their suits, as per regulation (he didn’t know this until later) when in battle stations, the ship had sustained a heavy hit at the hands of Xeno forces (whom he would later learn where called the Index). The whole ship would need to be toed and repaired back in Allied space, but the rescue effort to save all the crew members had been something inspiring. All Might, a recent debut Hero, who’d done his first crime tour on earth with sweeping success, had been aboard the neighboring Revelation-Class Titan _Executor_ during the battle, and had been the first major hero aboard any ship to rush to their aid. At speeds that could barely be caught by the untrained eye, he carried groups of five in packs at breakneck pace to the safe spots aboard the _Artemis_. Stepping aboard, Izuku got ready for the radio line. In a booming laugh, he’d easily glided from space to steel, making the movement look effortless. With simple muscular flexes, he all but glided through space, these movements helping to guide his equipment, he smiled to the camera crew. These two cadets being some of the first in the Navy to hear the glorious catch phase.

Izuku laughed along, until he said the line, looking the camera dead in the center.

**“Worry Not! WHY? Because I AM HERE! AAHAHAHAA!**

And Izuku had known, that day, that when he got his quirk…he’d work his hardest to achieve that level of pure Awesomeness.

___________________________________________________________

The doctor had been far from understanding, zero bedside manner, and had crippled a dream with swift surgical efficiency.

“Son, you might wanna pack that dream of being a hero in. You have no quirk to speak of.”

This had of course prompted an impromptu heart attack; curtesy of one, devastated, and painfully aware Izuku Midoriya. Needless to say, as his toy dropped from his grasp, and his mother fretted over him not falling over, the doctor proceeded to ask some very basic (yet lackluster) follow-up questions.

“Ma’am, might I ask what your quirk is and that of the boy’s father?”

“O-oh um, well, I can attract small objects with my hands.” Demonstrating upon the poor dropped All Might. She had though it had said a fleeting _‘My Boy?!’_ as it fell. Probably just her imagination. Still she held it tentatively. Gosh this wasn’t good. She’d been supporting the hero dream since he’d heard of them and proceeded to latch onto All Might like a father he never really got to have. _‘Way to go Hizashi, one more problem to this whole debacle, and great job Doc! Not like you just crushed some KID…how very professional. Yea, this is NOT a hospital for my baby boy.’_ Still she humored him. “And my husband can breathe fire.” Pretty self-explanatory, if she had to explain that any further to him, and him not have any real point she was going to pull a Mitsuki.

“Well, to put it bluntly, your son does not display the genetic evolutionary trait that is present among quirked humans. He is, by all rights, unable to manifest any powers. Citing his toe joint…riiiight here.” The man points to a small pinkie toe joint and shows it in comparison to that of someone with a quirk. All but confirming her nightmare…oh god her baby boy wasn’t going to do well with this now, was he?

_______________________________________________________

She’d been completely right. She’d gotten them home, on perhaps the quietest car ride home. She’d even turned on the rising star, Present Mic’s Radio show, he’d started originally on Ploutos since it was his home patrol planet, but had recently been hired on at U.A. So now he was broadcasting from the Stronghold. Even with something so powerfully hero related…oh he’d been despondent. Ruined even. She sighed sadly in the kitchen. Maybe…Katsudon might help. He liked it, and food was comforting. She wouldn’t lie and say she hadn’t eyed her favorite tea flavored Icecream with Mochi bits…because honestly? She was feeling it too. She had genetically failed her own progeny without even knowing it. Hell, she almost wanted to blame Hizashi, but that wouldn’t be productive. Especially since the man paid for everything from his recent colonial business on Inari. Not that she ever got to see him. He never called, rarely sent letters, and you could forget coming to visit. The man had thrown himself into work, and probably had a nice gig going for himself, and sent them the bare necessities. Her frustrations aside. She swallowed, looked to his room, and hugged herself. She walked to the door expecting to hear anguished wails like any child.

Hearing nothing scared her more.

She slowly cracked open the door, her eyes glinting over the darkened room. Her baby boy liked it bright in his room. At least until bedtime, right after her finely crafted All Might bedtime stories…she had to get creative. Aaaand search the occasional news site, just so she wouldn’t be behind on All Might trivia. But a room once so filled with bright, exuberant, joyful laughs; was but a pale shadow of itself. Small quiet sniffles racked the room, a small frame curled up as he watched the video for the next time. It wasn’t until he turned to her that her heart all but shattered. _‘Nooooo…baby.’_ She stood in silent saddened shock, tears gathering at her own eyes as he blearily looked at her, a broken daze over his face. Tears streaming from his giant little eyes. “C-can I b-be a c-cool h-hero…like h-him?”

She rushed forward and wept. “I’m so sorry! I’m so, so sorry Izuku!”

He hadn’t said anything after that for hours…well until noon the next day.

And she hated herself so much for that.

It was one of the worst days they’d ever had…and she feared worse ahead of them. God, she prayed for her baby.

_____________________________________________________________

PRESENT

He shook himself from his past filled stupor. Having come upon the bridge in his haze of remembrance, he mused perhaps a child at the age of 4, shouldn’t have been let in on the world’s most terrible secret. Not all men are created equal. And the suffering that unfolded had shaped him into the nervous wreck he was today. While still decently confident and in alright shape, these conditions had ensured social isolation (that’s what the various consulted psychology books called it he’d note), bullying, and no shortage of personal internal anguish. Was he not the idealist he is, or worse yet…without his mom? Gosh…he’d probably have given up ages ago. Still, as he raised his head with a (admittedly poor) All Mightian laugh, he soldiered on. Like he always had, and always would, waving his hard work above him like the little madman on a mission he dreamed to be, and technically was. Because he was human, and since it was there, by damn it, he was gonna do it!

Of freaking course, in his exuberance to lift his own spirit he missed a crucial detail about the area. A small smelly, disgusting gurgle made itself known below. What he also hadn’t noticed? No small birds. They normally loved to flutter around here. But would leave when people were around. He really liked the small blue ones. And ho boy they weren’t there.

Shoulda clued him in that there wasn’t exactly something nice in the area.

It surged out of an old Sewer main, looming high above him as it untangled itself from its disgusting hiding spot. While he’d seen some really weird quirks in his day…man he really worried a bit that this thing might not be human. Frick his luck running into a xeno. Or one nasty looking human. His eyes widened taking in the features of it.

Ah. Giant goo.

Hm. Yep, nope, big fat nope.

Not ready for this today!

“Gi, sgga q dtrod lomtr dtqz lxoz! Lgkkn aor, wxz O ktqssn fttr zg utz gy itkt. O pxlz fttr zg wgkkgv q wgrn, itsh q uxn gxz?” It gurgled out menacingly, a foreign tongue to anything human gracing its slimy lips.

Now Izuku was a smart boy. He had no weapons, he was nowhere close to a guard unit, hero, or the nearest police station…aaaand there was a giant monster thing looking at him like a snack. And smart good boy that he was. He would admit something in his last moments, said by many a nerd when something absolutely fucked appears before them. _‘I’ve seen WAY too much hentai to see where this is going! NOOOOPE! NO, not happening to me, no sirreeeee!’_ Although his actual verbal response was a resounding.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”

And like the Joestar he wished he could be, he took to an ancient technique born of desperation. Run, run like the wind, and do NOT look back. Perhaps the first time in his life, he was glad he’d gotten good at running from things, bullies, his problems, his emotional instability…you know the fun things in life.

Unfortunately, much like hentai, life is often disappointing.

Ah, the thing had his leg. Well that…

Frick, it has his leg.

Shit.

Today was just not his day.

Now, this did not mean he didn’t struggle. No, he put a whole new style to the writhing, yanking, and tugging he put on here. And to his credit, it did inconvenience the beast. Although, even with his mouth clamped shut, the inevitable was coming for his nose…and if it must any other hole. And frankly, Izuku didn’t want to be conscious when that went down. Because frick his life, right? He could feel it forcing his mouth open, suffocating him, drowning him in its filthy mess of whatever sentient concoction. His mind raced, begging, pleading for help. He didn’t want to die! He had so much to live for, he didn’t want to die without at least achieving hero status and maybe go on like a single good date. He really doubted the second would happen but suffice to say he was slipping.

“Ngx ligxsr wt usqr, hxfn Ztkkqf eiosr! Utzzofu zg ltkct ql dn dtqfl gy tleqht ykgd ziol rtztlzqwst kgea ligxsr wt lttf q hkocostut, qf igfgk ygk ngxk tbolztfet. Zkxsn, ngx’kt dn itkg! Fgv Igsr lzoss, ziol gfsn zqat q ltegfr~! O iqrf’z afgvf zit Rtytfrtk vql itkt, qfr O exklt dn sxea zg iqct kxf xhgf. Igsr Lzo—!”

As his consciousness began to slip, a burst of air was felt from the other side of the tunnel, where mister goo bags had first appeared. A hulking man, standing a surprising 7 plus feet, blonde hair in the iconic V, a smile to reassure the weak. The downtrodden, and those in need of a rescue. To those in need of a hero.

**“FEAR NOT! WHY?! BECAUSE I AM HERE!”**

As the beast screamed in frustration, rage, and panic, Izuku began to finally drift from consciousness. His last thoughts at that moment a tinge of hope, through what he feared as delirium.

_‘A-all…M-might?’_

And the world turned black.

_______________________________________________________________

Oh. Oh nooooo. Shit, shit, shit.

Was the kid breathing?

Ear to the chest, is it rising and falling, YES!

Aaand pulse? Thumping, kid’s alive.

Thank his beautiful stars, the boy is alive! HAHA still got it!

He checked the area around the boy, he’d already cleaned up the slime beast, filthy Xeno coming onto his planet, committing robbery, and trying to abscond with a body?! Terrifying monster this was…although far from the scariest, it was still nasty. He lay the kid flat to do compressions to make sure no slime was caught in his digestive or lungs. Listen for gurgling…none to speak of. Contained.

Whew touch and go Toshinori, touch and go.

What a day.

Swing by your home country for a few days and BOOM, way too close for comfort.

Anyway, morbid thoughts aside, does the kid have any belongings…hmm, backpack and a notebook. School kid looks…max 13 or so. Maybe last year of middle school. AKA too young for this shit. Toshi scratches the back of his head. As he reads the book title…Hero Journal for the future…#13. Huh, maybe he was a #13 fan? The space themed hero had gotten a ton of traction lately…lets see. Ah there’s a name in the cover. _Izuku Midoriya_ …hmm lucky kid. Let’s see—oh wow! These were thorough, solid notes. Heroics basics, some foundational knowledge here and there, and even a few advanced concepts, very nice. Plenty of tactical thinking, wait, he has a section on Aizawa?! Nedzu had told him how much the man avoided the spot light, (since the offer to teach was extended All Might had asked about all the teaching staff) so the fact this kid had a full 2 and a half pages (plus a really nice sketch) for the recluse was nothing short of impressive!

He flips back to the front to be more thorough himself, if the kid was this good, he deserved the once over.

Sure enough, there he is.

The First and most thorough entry, dedicated to this kid’s analysis.

Gosh this made him beyond nostalgic. Nighteye would kill to get this data. Let alone this high of a quality set of notes on yours truly. There were simply pages over pages…and some of the recent entries had even caught on to his decline a little, and while the theories were just a hair off…waaay too close for comfort. One even speculated injury, which was right. And Toshi was both impressed and frightened by the kid’s analytical skill…maybe that was his quirk. Man, what he wouldn’t do to have a tactician like this on the _Executor_. If he could just hold his form till, he’s awake…maybe he could convince him Naval service too would be prudent. Heroics and the defense of humanity tended to go hand in hand after all! But that would mean Nedzu gets to train a protégé and shit that means a new Nedzu. The universe can only stand one of him, two would be the downfall of at least 3 major galactic empires…the perks versus the risk are quite vast. He really hopes his quirk is something else.

He'd hoped to keep civilian interaction with this little monster low, he’d caught it in the shopping district, and it’d taken to the sewers. They weren’t easy to navigate, but Toshinori’d all but rushed to jump and catch the damn thing. Only it had captured some poor kid and from the looks of it at the moment. All Might had wondered if he’d failed. And by the stars he really never liked that, but to hear the steady sound of air movement from the boy’s nose gave him hope…and pause. What to do to make up for this? Or at least, maybe spin it to something more positive? He was pretty sure this kid is technically in the midst of meeting one of, if not his greatest, idols. Really, All Might may have an image to uphold, undaunting symbol of peace and whatnot. However, at this moment he just really wanted to lift this kid’s spirit, as he assumed this had not been a pleasant experience… _’Oh bingo! Fans like signatures right?’_

All Might rapidly flipped back to the rear of the book, and just past a recent entry about some girl named Mount Lady, boom a few pages of empty space. He left a gap after her entry, since he’d noticed no sketch was yet present. So, the next two pages were left open…and there, **“Ah and my John Handcock here…”** a mumble came from his lips as he signed both pages in his English script. He really liked how it looked, and honestly did wonders for covering his impossibly poor kanji. When most of your paperwork was in the international trade language, English, you just got good at it, and for as long as he’d been at it? Makes it hard to practice traditional. He took care, to close the book, ease it down next to the boy’s other personal items, and he took to trying to wake him up. Hopefully he’d been fast enough to avoid brain damage…

Elsewise, he was tooootally paying for that medical bill whether the kid’s parents liked it or not.

­­___________________________________________________

He’d been sure. He’d been a gonner, dead, dead as a dodo, dead as ripped steel. Dreams, hopes, all of it, burned away by one unlucky run in with a xeno parasite. And yet…

He gasped as his eyes shot open, feeling light smacks on his cheek, quickly Midoriya took to taking in his surroundings. He of course, couldn’t ignore the elephant that was giving his left cheek a decent amount of light punishment.

Holy shit, it…it’s All Might!

HoLy Shit it’s All Might!

……………..  
Frick maybe he was dead.

And you know what, he was oddly less perturbed by that fact, than the pure unrivaled excitement he felt for that brief lovely moment. Theeeen his anxiety kicked in, he recognized that he had, in fact NOT met his hero the way he’d have preferred. PaNiC tiiiime.

“EEEHaahhhahahhaaaaaaaaa!” He all but blubbered as he shot backwards, his legs kicking like a madman as he scrambled to gain his bearings and NOT embarrass himself, his mother, and his planet in front of THE ALL MIGHT! You know what, freak the hentai monster, screw his classmates, and anyone else who’d tried to destroy his day. Best Day EVER! _‘Okay, ooookaay caaallmmm yourself…just say something intelligent, say thank you! Yea, surely that will work out super easy!’_

“AlL mIgHt!?

_‘Freaking nailed it!’_

**“AAAHAHAHAA! Sorry, young man, I hadn’t meant to get you caught up in my Heroing! As you can see, this little slimy mongrel,”** All Might held up a jug that appeared to have the entire thing crammed into…an old soda bottle, **“was Quite slippery! Are you alright young man?”** _‘HE SAID THE THING!’_ Okay, maybe not the best, but impromptu containment was important. _‘Fooooocus, analyze later, bask in your Hero now! He’s just as massive as he seems in videos! COOOOOOL!’_ He stuttered lightly before he could formulate a decent response.

Quickly, and with shaky hands, Midoriya gave himself a pat down.

Legs? Double Check.

Throat? Check…but raw. He’d need honey and tea later.

Brain? Check, and freaking the frick out.

Eyes? Check.

Hands? Double Check.

Arms? Double check.

…

His butt nor other special areas didn’t feel…violated, so he supposed check.

_‘God I need a shower and several strong mouthwash sessions…and I smell like shit, in front of the greatest hero ever…screw it I’ll take it!’_

“U-um y-yes, I-I’m alright! T-Thank you so much for s-saving me All Might!” Izuku in a bid to help improve his impression, tried his best to give a winning smile. What the poor kid, didn’t know, was that All Might was doing his best not to pat his head like some kicked puppy. _‘He’s so freaking adorable, if not extremely awkward…well meeting your Heroes might just do that to you after evil hentai run wild.’_ And a meek awkward smile it was…poor guy looked beyond stupefied.

 **“Well young man, I hope there aren’t any complications from this…please contact my agency if anything occurs and I’ll be sure to help as best I can!,”** He stretched upward as he did a light laugh, **“I figured you could use a pick me up, so consider the signature in the back of that notebook there as a gift slash apology for the inconvenience!”** And to All Might’s surprise, the sheer speed at which this kid found, pounced and proceeded to check this notebook was something he’d not exactly expected from a near suffocation victim…oh he’d be alright. It made his smile all the less difficult to force.

On Midoriya’s end, perhaps he COULD die happy now. This was THE ALL MIGHT, and he got a signature! A SIGNATURE!

His bow was nothing short of frantic, “T-Thank you so much sir! I-It will be a treasured heirloom, curated to perfection! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!” _‘Haha! YES, THE SIGNATURE, I got it! I GOT IT! WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO! Mom’s gonna be so PROUD! …Okay maybe omit the sludge hentai monster, but still ALL MIGHT!_

Of course, All Might was flattered…but that was a hair much. Although, he supposed he’d probably geeked out a bit when he met Nana. Shit he was getting nostalgic today. Maybe he’d visit their old haunt later and send a letter Torino’s way. Sure, he was…scary, but he missed the old codger. Still it got a booming laugh from his frame, **“Ah gotta love that enthusiasm Young Man! Say, I noticed the title of that little notebook, and I gotta know, are you planning to join up with the Navy as well? We could use a bit of that liveliness in the fleet!”** To which the boy jumped, ramrod straight, and at attention. The movement reminding him of a sloppy recruit who’d yet been instructed on proper form…but pretty decent otherwise. He could see the gears turning, a seriousness taking upon the boy’s countenance…and a spark he’d been looking for quite some time shining in the boy’s eyes.

This just got interesting.

“E-ehem…Of course, Admiral, I’d be h-honored to fight along side humanity’s finest! I-I hope to apply to U-U. A. Naval Academy for the hopeful assignment to be selected for Officer training and H-Heroics.” _‘Shoot forgot to ask him that question, Ill ask in a moment.’_

 **“VERY GOOD! We could use more quality recruits; I like that Moxie!”** Oh, All Might was loving this, hell, he could do this all day! This kid had the makings of something special. Nedzu’d love this one. He felt his lungs burn… _’Shit, time’s up All Might, time to hit the ol’ dusty trail.’_ **“Happy to see you’ve an interest in the defense of man, I hope to see you aboard one of our fine vessels one day! Good luck Recruit!”** His legs grew taught as he looked up to the sky, **“Villainy never rest, and neither do the foes of man! I must get going, I really need to drop off this little monster to the military police for safe keeping!**

_‘Wait he’s leaving…but, I really need to ask him, I have to know! Shoot, what to do, what to do?_

_Time to do something stupid.’_

________________________________________________________

_‘Oh-oh yea this was stupid’_

Midoriya had all but leapt onto his hero’s leg and was now flying through the air with the man, at a startling 120 km over several places he only knew from the ground. It was exhilarating and freaking terrifying. So, this was what it was like to fly? Huh. Neat.

 **“W-wha! HEY, I like my fans b-but this is a bit much!”** A giant hand went to his head, all but looking to pry him off. Midoriya however, still had his wits about him, even if his self-preservation was something to be desired…

“W-Wait! If y-you puuulll me oooofff I-I’ll fall! And probably die!” At this height anyway, and at this considerable a speed…well, he could tell it wasn’t All Might in a hurry. Which left him in silent awe, but this was also well past, Izuku’s gonna die—splat phase. And he was going to hold his leg like a vice grip. **“Huh…good point,”** it was at this moment the burning became too much, and All Might felt the burning copper sensation heft up to his mouth, (a more common occurrence than he’d like). _’Shiiiit no more time, need to land fast, drop the kid and MoVe!’_ **“Hold on young man, I’ll look for a safe place for us to land!”**

They came in a little hot, but All Might made sure to land on the foot Midoriya was not on, and slowly ease him down. He might have been a bit aggravated with him, although this was certainly NEW, he didn’t much appreciate clingy. Still, he turned back to the boy, firmly. **“Young man, that was beyond dangerous for you, I have no clue what you can do, but most heights like that are terribly dangerous for the untrained civilian! Please, do your best to be more cautious in the future. Now, I must be going! Please knock on the door up here on the top, I’m sure they will open up eventually if its locked, and if not you can make your way down. I think this building is only 8 flights, so it shouldn’t take long.”** He gives a fleeting salute with a peace sign over his left brow, looking to turn, as he felt another flair up. _‘No, no, no, NOT HERE!’_

Midoriya by contrast was woefully unable to notice since he was in full blurt mode. He knew he needed to work on it. But that wasn’t a concurrent thought. More focused on getting it out.

All the years of anguish, pain, and the memories.

His hopes and dreams laid bare…for the only Hero he knew could put his pain to rest. Or maybe, just maybe build upon his hopeless base, and let flight to his cosmic dream.

“I…I need to know. I’ve always wanted to be a hero, and I just have to know…CAN I BE A HERO WITHOUT A QUIRK?!” His heart reels…he can only hope now. Flashes of memories, hopes, dreams, and lastly the stars he so loved above. He tucked his head down, shame wrote across his face, his hands grip at his sides. Just once…all he begged for was the once.

 **“A Hero…without a Quirk?”** What kind of quest…oh. Oh. OOH. Not ready. All Might had no script for this, and honestly a moment of reflection, he didn’t even know if he was qualified to answer that sort of question. Sure, he was the number one hero and a top-notch leader in his Naval Career…but he was far from a top tier thinker. And this poor young man, of the 20%, of humanity’s Hearth, was reaching out for help. And All Might…might not be around long enough to answer…but whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to have a difficult conversation on this roof. _‘Shit…times up.’_

A puff of smoke rippled across the rooftop, despite the young lad’s mumbling. His form shrank, to that of his less formidable civilian self. Crippled, a tad depressed, and low on energy, he hefts a sigh as blood erupts up his throat. It burns, copper running down his lips as he aims to the side so as to not spray the boy. Gosh this always hurt a little. Anyway, back to the young man’s question…but now he needed to explain himself. Since the boy seemed to be having a crisis.

“B-but. What? A-All Might?! Y-you can’t be… _mumble mumble mumble mumble_ …”. Oh yea, this kid was gonna need a second and an explanation.

“Hold on young man.” His gravelly voice lent out, lightly chuckling at the boy’s exuberance. “This is, indeed, me. I am, in fact All Might.” He smiled lightly, before it dropped with a bit of exhaustion. “Just…a bit less impressive. You might think of it like those barrel-chested guys who buff up on resort worlds, puffing out their chest to look more muscular. It’s kinda like that, but with real power. It…ah, can’t hold very long anymore. I can still pull a full 4 hours in public a day, which is usually enough, but I may have overreached a bit with you. Sorry, young man.”

To say the boy looked shocked was an understatement. He looked outright floored. Gosh he hated to disappoint people, although…the look of understanding he got wasn’t entirely comforting either. The fact that this kid even had the mind to empathize with his hero instead of admonishing his secretiveness was…kind of nice, if All Might was honest with himself. Who knows, kid might be going places. In the Navy at the very least…he’d need to be careful how he phrased his Heroics rebuttal. If they were gonna talk, may as well be honest all the way huh?

“S-so um, why do you have a limit? I’d thought when you debut, you were pulling almost consistent all-day raids. What…what changed?” He asked, a sincere worry to his words, it moved the man. And Izuku did worry, he was, after all the hero he most looked toward for guidance. His whole perception of the heroic ideal had something of a base in All Might’s save all mentality. No sacrifice too great, it seemed, was an all too real aspect to his existence.

He chuckled, “You know your stuff kid, I’ll give you that, but this battle wasn’t put on record for obvious reasons. The whole of Humanity’s existence had been at stake, and the commission made it clear to all involved that the exercise of this event was at its core, classified. Beyond that, my boarding action had been made extremely classified. To the point that even those aboard the _Executor_ were not informed of it. Nighteye was left in charge of the ship, I ventured into the abomination’s home base. A human who already had an already powerful quirk, had foolishly bound himself to the Index through metal augmentation and joining of flesh and steel. The monster lost…but at the cost of most of my internal organs. Including half my stomach, a lung, and a few other bits and bobs. All are currently held together with synthetic organ replacement…but my body has had trouble with the rejection process despite the quality of aid rendered. It doesn’t help that I think it might be my Quirk and not exactly the Doctor’s fault. Still, I have everything…its just not holding together properly. Plus, all the surgeries didn’t help with scaring.” He lifts his shirt to show a nasty deep spidering wound, wrapped around his torso like pierced glass. Cracks and fissures far from natural rippled up and down his torso. He was otherwise quite healthy looking, but he was clearly still degrading. It horrified Izuku. “It was about. Ah. Five-ish years ago—.”

Izuku interrupted lightly, “Around the time you beat Toxic chainsaw?”

All Might wouldn’t let it show, but he was impressed with the kid’s memory. “Oh, well roughly a couple months after the incident with Toxic Chainsaw…although let it be said, that weakling didn’t stand a chance!” They both chuckled. All Might…liked this, for once a fan was willing to treat him like a common man, not just someone else who wanted an autograph, but needed real guidance. “Need I remind you this stays between you, me, and the roof tiles?” He smiled full of mirth, no less serious, but amused as he watched intelligent eyes gathering in every detail. Clearly this kid would do excellent at tactical. Gosh he wanted someone like that on _Executor_ , it was a hair rough since he’d lost Nighteye to…professional differences.

Namely All Might’s lack of self-preservation, and Nighteye’s mother hen worrying.

No, he wasn’t being bitter, or a bit bone headed…not at all.

Those thoughts aside…he figured he might need to breach the elephant he’d left to sit waiting.

Could the boy be a Hero without a quirk?

“O-Oh of course All Might! No forum, no paper, nor any other person I know will ever know about…,” Midoriya gestured to his torso, “That.”

All Might smiled at the sincerity. “Good, Good, needless to say, the consequences for humanity’s security would be quite dire should anyone that wanted us extinct or seek to enact Villainy find out about my little predicament. Galactic crime is at an all time low…lets keep it that way yea?”

Midoriya answered almost immediately, “O-of course, A-all Might!” His hand itched, how much he wanted to write it down almost HURT. But he knew how important keeping these things a secret is, as All Might and the Fleet had become a Galactic level deterrent both to the criminal element, and for the greater Galactic community to…well stay off human turf. But his first question was left unanswered…and he feared for the reality to come crashing down.

“Well young man, I can certainly say this, I wouldn’t doubt your ability to operate in the navy at any capacity. Like I said, you’d probably do well in Tactical with how quick a thinker you seem to be. Plus, those notes are something else…but on the topic of Heroics. I’d like to say you have the right drive, energy, heck you have the hallmark motivations of a Hero. That’s all fine and dandy, and if you’re still hung up on it, I’m in no position to tell you not to.”

Izuku’s heart leapt…it was too good to be true!

It really was.

“However, I simply wouldn’t advise it. Quirks do a LOT of work to help people in the industry, and without one you’re already at a distinct active disadvantage to lots of threats out there. Human, Xeno, and other cosmic threats that abound. You can certainly try…but it helps to be realistic.”

He’d began to slowly get up, testing the roof-top door to find it luckily unlocked. He’d not really caught the boy’s reaction, as he’d gone eerily silent. _‘Maybe he’s just mulling it over, kid’s a thinker right?’_ Although he couldn’t really take it if he looked back, because he was sure he wasn’t giving the kid what he really wanted here. Although it held some level of truth…he couldn’t stand losing someone so bright and kindhearted to the obvious threats of the universe. “Like I said, you could do a lot of good in the Navy, or if that isn’t your thing, the police get a lot of flak since they aren’t always the ones to capture a threat…but they do good work. If you like helping people, work within your ability, and build from there ya know? Good luck, young man.” He’d closed the door.

Gosh he really hoped he hadn’t fucked that up.

______________________________________________

Izuku was at a loss for words…and while perhaps not the brutal takedown he’d had shoved in his face for 9/10ths of his life.

Well it was still basically a resounding…

No.

And to hear that from THE Hero.

The Admiral.

His Idol.

His Hero.

Well it hurt.

A lot.

And as tears streamed down his cheeks, hands clutching at his sides, hugging himself to just stay calm. It all hit at once. And he hated the memories, the scoffing, and the sad, sad, truth.

He couldn’t be the hero he wanted to be.

Save no one.

Not even himself.

And for the briefest, darkest, moments…he heard a little whisper.

The edge of the roof beaconed and tempted. It mocked him relentlessly, a quiet, subtle pain echoed in his chest.

_That swan dive sounds pretty good…doesn’t it? No more useless, no more mocking, no more worrying your mother, no more pain…just nothing. And it’s done…_

And he hated that thought even more than reality itself.

No…It was just, time to grow up. Be realistic. And do his duty.

Nothing more, nothing less, until his dust resettles…and the earth consumed him as it took him in.

An explosion, with a massive dust cloud erupted in the distance, and for the briefest of moments his excitement came on instinct. _‘Oh! A villain attack?! Awesome let me just…_ Only for clarity to retake him.

_‘I…I don’t feel like it. The heroes have this. No need to…to…_

_No need to hope anymore.’_

___________________________________________________

All Might may be a cripple, but by golly he can still SPRINT.

_‘Shit, Shit, Shiiiit! Dropped the damn bottle! Stupid nonindustrial grade pockets, Stupid ME! GO, GO, GO!’_

No telling what that damn Xeno was up to, and what if it had a hostage? He was pushing himself as far as a man who’s basically an anorexic asthmatic can go. Which is surprisingly fast, considering his own fitness. Moving at a comic pace, he drew stares but not much else. He was in full ‘save it’ mode. Even if he could yet do anything about it. As he drew upon the corner, a hollow, painful realization kicked in… _’Out of time.’_

He was out of time. He couldn’t save the day.

Hypocrite.

Worthless.

DAMN IT!

He stared hollow blue eyes locked on the poor struggling, explosive child…good quirk but clearly unable to do much in his spot. He needed positioning. Shit. And the Heroes present aren’t exactly suited. Death arms needs to be able to grab something, Backdraft was tending the ever growing fires to avoid further infrastructure damage, Kamui can’t do FIRE, and Mount Lady…He remembered the boy’s notes for but a moment and figured she couldn’t grow a limited amount, which hampered her ability to act in the small lane shopping area.

And he could hear the crowd beginning to turn. Fear slipping in, where hope had once resided.

He even heard a few sounds surprised that he’d lost the beast.

Worthless.

__________________________________________________

Midoriya in the meanwhile was casually walking, with no real direction in mind. He’d resisted his pained urges. But only just. He was rational enough to pull himself out of that painful idea. But he still felt hollow. Removed of purpose. Of his joy. Life held little in it for him if he couldn’t do everything he could to help people. To be in the Navy was his only major hope left, and even still it felt somewhat hollow without the prospect of further Heroism than stomping out piracy and other cosmic threats. He took some level of solace in that.

But it still hurt to give up on dreams.

He abruptly realized, as another explosion resounded oh so close to him, _‘My feet must have took me here by instinct…maybe I can put myself to rest with a short watch.’_ He bobbed and weaved through the crowd drearily. If anything in a daze. He didn’t pull out his notebook from his backpack. He didn’t even start muttering a little to take stock of the Heroes.

Wouldn’t help him much now.

But as soon as his eyes drifted from his feet, to the heroes, to the slime beast…his mind reeled for what felt like the 8th time that last hour. He’d had a lot of revelations today, but the fact that this whole thing could be partially this fault…well it obviously didn’t help his conscience.

_‘To whatever poor soul there…I hope you hang in there just a little longer! Someone has to be coming! All Might can…h-he can’t. He’s out of juice, he’s not coming. Please, please, someone save—!’_

His eyes caught red ones…a hint of recognition in both rapidly flashes in their minds and he bolts forward.

He had no control of such an instinctual reaction. He saw the desperation, the will to live, the pain, all of it. And his body? Wouldn’t stand for it! Although his mind, was in different pastures.

 _Why the frick am I running? I’m running straight at a dangerous Xeno! WHY AM I RUNNING?! Think, think, think! What would work here? Save him, come oooooon! If no one ELSE, I WILL! Even if I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING!’_ His countenance changed, to a deep seriousness. _‘Edgeshot, book #11, and Eraserhead in book #13, assess enemy weak points, and exploit mercilessly. But Goo doesn’t have a WEAK SPOT! Wait…the only solids are the…EYES!’_

His hands move in tandem, to grab his backpack straps, shucking it into a loose axe throw grip while still sprinting over his right shoulder. As he closed the distance he heard the beast bellow in rage.

“Ngx! Ngx IQR NGXK EIQFET! RRROOOOTTTT!!”

_‘Freaking Terrifying!’_

____________________________________________________

All Might, by contrast was freaking the hell out, inspired, and on his feelings of guilt and pride, his respect for this random green haired boy exploded ten-fold. Somewhere, deep in the back of his mind, he heard the call, an echo of heroism’s core deep within One For All. He saw that instinctual leap and had almost rushed to stop the powerless boy. Almost, stopping as he watched this powerless boy risk everything he had for someone else, with no greater motive than to save. It both unnerved him and made him remember fondly his first leap to action. And as a pencil pierced the eye of that beast making it shriek, writhe, and recoil at the stabbing pain…he felt his power surge.

HE **MUST ACT!**

As the beast regained its bearings, and the boy became seconds from impalement upon a gooey tentacle, he too joined the fray. Muscles bulging, righteous fury rippling through him, and pride in this boy’s tenacity. His fist drew back as his left-hand slashed forward to grab hold of both boys in a single sweep. To have told such a heroic soul not to join the halls of Heroes past? Foolish, and even more foolish, the prospect that he’d forgotten what he’d been on his way to the Stronghold for…to find someone worthy.

The beast paused its rage, clear fear in its eyes, for it knew its doom was upon it. He looked to the boys but particularly to Midoriya and Smiled wide.

**“To think I so foolishly looked to covet you for, but one means of saving the hearts of man. Young man, for but a moment, I did not live up to my own ideals. Your rush to act proved something, that we must all GO BEYOND! DEEETROOOOOIT SMAAAAAAAAASH!”**

In a blinding wave of air pressure, followed by his fist in an arch upward, he ensured the beast splattered spectacularly, as his powerful punch flexed into the sky, a swirl of air causing nothing short of a small tornado to burst to life for but a moment. And as it was for but a moment, it vanished the next. Followed by a short, small rain shower.

For but a man, had changed the weather with a single punch.

And a boy, his whole life, with but a few desperate steps.

______________________________________________________

While the other heroes on the scene were proud of the kid for taking the chance to at least attempt to help, they still couldn’t let it slip that he’d done something damn near suicidal. Hadn’t even used his quirk (not that he had one to use), which saved him from any punishment beyond a mild lashing to the tune of “How extremely irresponsible do you have to be to run at a gosh dang Xeno, with no insurance as to how the heck you’d survive?!”

To be brilliantly fair, he had no answer to that, (didn’t even think he wanted to know) and he frankly tuned out a gracious amount, in favor of paying close attention to his peer. Katsuki had of course, gotten not only praise, but he’d done well enough holding the beast’s advances to get a few light promises that he was going places. Which, may have under normal circumstances, made the boy call it ‘Obvious’, ‘Better than any extra could have’, or something from that variety of ‘I know’. Instead the boy was oddly silent, he even appeared to be aggressively ignoring the praise, in favor of staring at his shoes. He knew the explosive boy to know this was either really messing with him, or something was off. Possibly both. And as his scolding ran down to a close, and it appeared All Might was still stuck with the news crews, Izuku pulled himself up, dusted off his pants…and began the long, decidedly demure walk home.

_______________________________________________________

He heard sprinting behind him, angry breathing, and a slew of other warning signs. Bakugou had caught up with him. Fantastic, he couldn’t wait to have his dreams stepped on more today, or perhaps he might get stepped on a bit. Not into that, no thank you, he had his brush with off brand, and he was staying the course…faaar away from anything pain related. He slowed down, turned, and in the varied landscape of the large city behind him, he saw that explosive blonde running to him at full pace. Cursing silently all the way, he was sure he was going to get a lecture on being a ‘Useless waste of space, and pain in my ass’.

And he’d been close. It was a variety piece.

“Fucking DEKUUU! Don’t you fucking run away, you senseless nerd! I don’t want you thinking you’re better than me you quirkless idiot, so don’t think you saved my ass! That was ALL MIGHT, and nothing more! Hell, you were in the gosh damn way, and I am NOT going to say you did more than get a lucky hit on that monster’s eye. So, don’t bring this up to ANYONE!” He then promptly turned around, and grumpily marched away, a cranky crotchety nature to the odd step, angry, fed up, and extremely confused…even though Katsuki would never admit it. Not to a soul.

But the nerd…he’d done some shit today.

And fuck if it didn’t mess with him.

Izuku by contrast was just, weirded out to put it lightly. He couldn’t tell if it was a complement, condescending ‘frick you’, a means of praising their hero, or flattery…and he assumed it was a combination of the three. It didn’t make his disappointment in his old friend any less prominent, but for an odd reason—well he felt a little better. Suffice to say it didn’t lift his spirits, but at the very least he knew that, no he wouldn’t have to explain away any additional bruises tonight. He smiled lightly, tired, thin, and no short amount of broken. “Well then, back to giving up on my dreams…”

 **“IIIIIIIII AM HEEEERRREE! And might I ask, what dreams you plan to give away? There’s no sense in ending this campaign quite so early! AHAHAAaaa** ppphuuuuuuu!” The hulking mass had arrived no sooner than Bakugou had disappeared, not a soul in sight, despite the city’s gargantuan population. The hero dabbed away a dribble of blood as the boy stood ridged before him, shock clearly written on his face. ‘ _What the hell is he doing here?!’_

“You see, young man, I think I may have been mistaken earlier, so please clarify for me.” Toshinori grinned, a slight lit to his voice.

“But you said you wanted to be a Hero earlier, right?”

Midoriya stood in shock, although he was cognizant to shyly putter out a miserable…”Y-yes…”, to which All Might extended a hand to his ear, mimicking someone hard of hearing. “What’s that young man? I don’t think I heard this recruit.”

“Y-Yes sir.” He stated more firmly. Although his confidence began to waiver; why was he rubbing it in? Didn’t he say, he couldn’t be a Hero? Why—“Young man, I think I owe you three things, an apology, a complement, and an opportunity. Willing to hear me out?”

Like he’d say no to freaking All Might?!

“U-um, sure. A-all Might sir.”

This drew a chuckle from the Hero, “Enough with the formalities and sir business. I’m old enough already young man! But that’s good to hear…anyway. By means of apology, I was wrong.”

_‘What?’_

“You, young man, did something today few your age can even lay claim to being somewhere close to, let alone as their own. Today, your body moved on its own…didn’t it? I saw that raw panic…you didn’t have a plan, did you?”

He shook his head, half in shock, half in acknowledging his question.

“You know, many great **_Heroes_** have a very similar backstory, something I’m sure you’ve picked up on in a great number of your fine notes. Every beginning, a common instinctual burst toward danger. No thought, no immediate considerations, just pure, raw instinct; their bodies moving on their own like Men and Women possessed, to do one thing…save another. That happened to you today…didn’t it?” His voice confident, strong, and certain. _‘Yes, this is it, this is the one.’_ He grinned in triumph; this boy was more than worthy.

Midoriya’s knees buckled. His breathing pitched; his eyes watered as for the first time in his life, it was happening. For the first real moment, he felt it, he felt it in his heart. From someone else, from HIS IDOL, from someone with experience, knowledge, and strength to really back it up. _‘T-this isn’t real, I-I’m delusional, impossible, unrealistic, never in my dreams…’_ he began to weep openly in front of a man who held a key to his future. A shining ray of hope, to shatter the darkness deep in his kind weary soul. He nodded absently as the Symbol of Peace, a man capable of shaping worlds crouched to be closer to but a meager mortal, and presented him with words so sweet that they shattered a dam of pain and suffering he hadn’t realized he’d been under the weight of…

“Young Midoriya, today you’ve proved yourself more than capable of housing a strong heroic spirit. You inspired ME to push beyond my limits, and to do what I could to help another boy in danger. You helped save a life today, so let me say this clearly to you my boy…I think for certain you can be a Hero. To me, you already are one, a shining example of self-sacrifice which pushed me beyond a mental block to help you liberate someone from the clutches of suffering. You are worthy. And let me say it again…You, can be…a Hero.” Toshinori found himself liking this boy’s humble reaction…even if it concerned him that this praise had been enough to send the boy to tears…well Midoriya had earned his respect today, he was being extremely honest. If he kept this up, they might need to work on presentation, but the kid was probably shaken…All Might quietly realized this might have been the first time someone had truly meant this to him.

It was a sobering moment, but he soldiered on, he had a future protégé to pull from the depths and aboard a proper vessel.

The relief washed over him, the grief of years gone gripped him and ripped at his painful memories. Every put down, every miss step, every depressing hopeless moment, all leading through to this earth-shattering revelation made it hard for Midoriya to process. But as the sorrow gave way to relief and unmitigated joy…he knew he’d take not one step back now. He was getting to his dream school. He would fight tooth and nail for every inch of progress. He would do whatever he could to achieve this dream.

For if All Might himself believed in him, by sol and the stars above, he would seize it!

_‘This day cannot get any better, I refuse to believe anything could top this. All Might believes in me!!’_

“And now for that opportunity, I have told such a small number of people of this coming secret, and you would be one of a measly 5 to know of such a secret. Are you willing to know of my quirk?”

_‘AAAHHaHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA PIIIINCH ME! YES, YES, MORE THAN ANY COLLECTABLE I COULD EVER BEG FOR!’_

His vocal response wasn’t much more well collected. He stammered out a snotty nosed, recovering scratchy squeak. “Y-yes sir, u-u-um I’ve heard a l-lot of theories…but nothing r-really concrete…you always dodge questions about it in forums, media days, press releases, and on talk shows.”

_‘Huh, kid knows his stuff…what a mega fan boy, its so adorable! Is this what Nana felt like? Like a proud parent?’_

“Exactly, for you see. My power is no ordinary quirk, it is a power passed down from generation to generation, cultivated, built upon and passed down from one holder to another. A stockpiling quirk of the world’s finest heroes, of a select few entrusted with the defense of Unity from all other walks of life. The Commonwealth as a whole depends upon these sacred few quite strongly, to defend it from within and without. Only 8 of us have existed thus far, a power strongly defended since the birth age of quirks some 500 years prior. All of us ranging in our ability to stockpile and give unto the next. It is a burden of great consequence, and great power…and I believe you to be worthy of inheriting my quirk…what say you young man?”

The mumble storm was so strong Toshinori had to jerk back a little at the sheer furious pace the kid went into speculating the pure consequence of the quirk. And as he’d finished his appeal…the boy paused for only a moment. He looked at him as if he were a saint, or maybe in sheer awe of the gift so kindly brought to his humble, quirkless feet. Still his eyes glowed eagerly, his hand clenched, a small, wobbling smile reaching his lips, but then the fire shown…a determination so strong it would come to define his tenure. And Toshinori swore he could call this before it even began. Even if the boy probably was a slew of questions, and he saw them swim behind that determination. The fire burned ever brighter by the small quiet few seconds.

And Izuku for the second time in his short life, felt a surge of true confidence in his dream…he wouldn’t have to do it all quirkless and alone after all…and while he would have done it, even without the quirk…well if he was going to accept too good to be true All Might complements, he’d take the McGuffin quirk like a champ!

“YES! O-of course! If I can, I would! B-but um…how the hell does that even work?” But that was all Toshinori needed. And frankly, he was gripped yet again by such a swift smart little answer. Oh, this kid was going to be a great hero! ‘ _Eat your words Nighteye! HA!_ ’

“Good! Young man I’m LOVING this moxie! And such a prompt response, you’ve got a deal, Fanboy! HAHA! How about you meet with me tomorrow to begin your training? You’ve gotta put in the work if you want to be a certified Hero after all!” His grin hadn’t felt this real in ages. _‘Nana…we’ve got one…thank you. Let’s hope I picked up your teachings well.’_

Midoriya, now over the moon, in on the greatest of All Might secrets, and now beyond elated, all but ran home in excitement. AFTER, getting All Might’s phone number for the meetup location and to call in case of emergencies. _‘ALL MIGHT’S PHONE NUMBER!’_ And for the first time in years, true, unfiltered hope running through is veins…he all but burst happily through the door to his apartment.

___________________________________________________

He’d almost forgotten he’d been in a terrifying incident earlier today. That said, his mother’s fretting came to a slight pause as the boy’s smile caught her eyes. She…she hadn’t seen that since the day he…

Her heart pounded with pure joy as she hugged her baby. She may have been worried, even if he was okay…but now she had something to be deathly thankful for…someone had restarted that beacon of hope in his heart. And she was going to make SURE it stayed…even if it scared her half to death and put her on edge. Because by damn it, she would not miss out on this again. Her baby boy was finally free.

She was sure she’d thank whoever did this to the point of absurdity. As long as her baby was happy, she was sure, she’d finally have a little room to be happy too.

Little did either Midoriya know, this was soon to mark the beginning of his Ten months in Hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to say, simply AMAZING the support this got for being from a little review fella like me. I gotta admit, I really couldn't think of anything in the cannon that wouldn't fit this AU at least a little bit, so for now the changes will appear...quite minimal. I hope the jokes were funny, any and all caught references are appreciated. So, I figured, what better way to deal with the origins story than to keep close to it but blend it a little. At the core, Izuku, whatever Galactic Naval ambitions he may have, come slightly second to his drive for saving others. Heroism is just this kid's element. The next couple of chapters will be where the real differences start to accumulate. Plus, I do like being descriptive, so this chapter is just as much a love letter to the original as it is a foundation for something new. We must first crawl before we can walk, walk to jog, jog to run, run to sprint, and so on until we hit liftoff. I look forward to the reviews, criticism is all the more welcome. I hope you enjoyed the story, I'd also intended Independence day to be when I finished and published. But I wanted to tweek some interactions and cypher the Alien language. Which I can indeed provide translations for if you perhaps already haven't guessed. If it is needed, I will adjust the chapter's end-notes to reflect this. Thanks Again!
> 
> Sincerely,  
> Sir Light Knight
> 
> P.S. SOOO MANY KUDOS!


	3. Forging Atlas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill, not mine, but I'll gladly build a story from it. Support the official release. A-and sorry for the wait! Enjoy!
> 
> Homer, Odyssey 1. 52 ff (Trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th Century)  
> “Atlas the baleful; he knows the depths of all the seas, and he, no other, guards (or holds) the tall pillars that keep the sky and earth apart.”

**Chapter 2: Forging Atlas**

Star Date: 1/25/2500 (Late in the evening)

Location: Unity; Japan: Mustafu Prefecture, All Might’s Lay Low Apartment

The Jingle of keys broke the otherwise pleasantly silent evening. The sun slowly setting behind him, All Might couldn’t help the quiet hum as his door swung open. Groceries in hand (he’d had to go back for new ones), a small burger bag rest atop the now swollen bag of goods. ‘ _Gosh it’s good to be home’,_ Toshinori sagged in relief. Today had been such a stressful day.

Supposedly easy patrol, bust, had to chase a goo monster through the sewers of a major metropolitan area…shit he needed a shower.

He sat his food on the counter after depositing his goods for decent balance. Although the day hadn’t been a complete bust, he’d almost screwed himself out of a successor.

You can’t blame a guy for being cautious, but if he’d known how bad he’d screwed with the kid’s moral beforehand, the crying had all but solidified his worries. Those were tears of vindication. He knew them well from his own youth.

Of course, he’d done everything sense to right that misstep, but he had a feeling it would continue to bite him in the ass. Or at least gnaw on his conscience, even if it was just a little, the boy’d almost gone full suicide brawler on that Xeno…and he had to admit he thought it was one of the most badass civilian actions he’d seen off a CNS ship. Jumping in, full tilt, no backup, no clear plan, and STILL hell bent on helping someone in need.

…

And he’d said no.

He reached up to scratch the back of his head, a weary sigh leaving his mouth once the foodstuff was sorted. Propping against his counter, he unwraps his dinner halfway, and takes a small bite. God he’d missed Liberty Burger. Don’t get him wrong, the chiefs aboard the _Executor_ were some of the best in the commonwealth for keeping a full ship kicking and rearing for a fight. But the taste of home? Nothing short of sublime. He’d cry if he weren’t used to the long-long voyages, years of sub-light travel and gateway slips had him within a couple weeks of reaching home…just he rarely got the time off.

To think all he needed was a furlough on Unity to kick some pep into his step…the sun’s rays made him so very happy to be home again. His frame felt so very tired, a good rest would be nice.

But he finally had a successor…gosh he couldn’t believe it.

Wait…

HE HAD A SUCCESSOR!

It set in like lead in his almost non-existent intestines, every other subconscious thought drawing blank. He plopped onto his couch looking up at the ceiling.

He had a successor.

Shit what does he do now?

Sure, he had a roundabout workout plan kinda in the works, he’d finish the research after a nice shower, but the complexities of the situation started to build. If the kid was serious on the Navy AND Heroics, then that meant an additional facet to his training…space prep.

It wasn’t perhaps, the most difficult thing in the world, but it required a very special equipment set, nothing he could realistically put together in a backyard, or on a beach…no he’d need the good shit. Which meant he was in a rather slight bind. He didn’t know the kid’s school requirements, available training facilities in the area, nor did he know the boy’s schedule. He had next to zilch, down kit, and no idea about a bunch of things.

What was his home life like?

Did he need familial consent to take the kid to a verified training center?

Did the kid’s family reach the ‘decent’ living requirement?

What sort of hobbies did he have?

Did he have a social life that he would need to be aware of to avoid robbing the kid of what little social time he might have left?

Did he have bullies?

How would they cover up the quirk thing?

…….

Wait…Might tower had some training equipment. All the best models…and it was what, a ten-minute hyper train ride to that part of Tokyo?

Clearly, the symbol of peace had a lot to think about, and a whole new world to consider building.

After all, its not every day that you set about building a new Atlas.

He needed a plan.

Fast.

__________________________________________________________

Star Date: 1/26/2500

6:00 A.M. Dagobah Beach

Izuku was early, he knew it, and he’d taken care to set himself up at a highly visible point along the beach line. All Might had sent him a text late last night with a slew of pre-emptive questions that had befuddled the Hero-to-be but had no less shown how serious the promise of training had been. All-Might had prefaced the text as being a list of things he’d require in the morning, paired with the time and place to meeting up. They’d agreed to around 6ish, simply because it would guarantee some time alone, quiet, and away from local prying eyes. The jog over hadn’t been much trouble at all, if anything far shorter than his usual school commute. He held a packet about 15 pages long, detailing everything and anything All Might may need, he’d even taken the time to detail a general baseline for his school schedule, explained his family’s socio-economic situation, and broadly his life. He’d dressed up a lot of the perhaps more ‘adult worrying points’ his low self-esteem not withstanding among other things, but he’d been sure to be comprehensive. No friends to worry about, mom seemed excited that he’d met someone willing to help him train, and his health wasn’t poor per say, but he knew one thing, he was far from perfect.

Still, he smiled brightly, wobbly thought it was, he was beyond excited. He got to hang out and be mentored by THE ALL MIGHT.

Oh, the holo clock hadn’t done it reasonable justice. All Might’s majesty was something to be frankly awe inspired by, to be considered a candidate for something so precious as his Quirk? Oh, he was positive he died and was in a slow hallucination in that Xeno, but alas the text messages all but proved the reality. He had so much merch he needed signed… _’No bad Izuku, do not ambush your idol with trinkets, and just take what you’ve got.’_ Midoriya glanced around, taking in the filth, such a sad thing to do to a beach, especially on Terra proper. Heck, why didn’t they recycle? Half of this was salvageable metal from what he could see…he hoped his shots were up to date…wait, he checked the forms, indeed he was up to date.

_‘Good…god I’m so nervous. Still getting used to the whole meeting and knowing my hero thing.’_

It was so freaking awesome. And as his eyes passed over his left shoulder for the fifth time, he saw his now mentor walking in the distance, a comfy looking set of exercise All Might themed jogging wear decked out on his skeleton like form. Looking no less heroic to him, but clearly he intended to keep skinny for now, the shirt wasn’t baggy, the pants were, although they were clearly elastic. He so needed that set.

 _‘Fooocus, focus, focus, training now, nerd out later.’_ He sighed nervously as he stood to greet the man, carefully side stepping calling him by his popularized name. “Y-Yagi sensei! Over here!”, he waved to catch the man’s attention, the bony man picking up the pace to meet the eager trainee.

“Well, young man, I wasn’t expecting you to be here so early. Very punctual of you, I’ll keep that in mind for the future. I hope you weren’t waiting long.” He grinned lightly at the boy, who scratched his head modestly _‘Do not tell him how long you waited here, do not embarrass yourself’_ , “O-oh no, I haven’t been waiting too long! I-I got here a few m-minutes early to uh m-make sure I had the right place…why here Y-yagi s-sir?”

“Do you know anything of the birth of Heroics, young man?” He glanced over the dilapidated beach area…was that a truck under all that scrap? How the hell?

“U-um well I know the definition changed around the time Q-quirks became more prevalent, and that it isn’t always about fighting villains. Helping people is the core of heroics, as it always has been.” The growing confidence in his statement made Toshinori chuckle, refreshing enthusiasm. “Exactly, I intend to use this area as something of a project for you, and as your training ground. Community service is another key pillar of the heroic ethic, so that is going to be part of it. Although, we will need to discuss that more in-depth, have you had any breakfast kid?” It was early after all, and surely he hadn’t had anything decent. If he was going to be his successor, the least he could be is hospitable.

“N-no, not y-yet, b-but I should be—“, a small growl cut him off, and said everything Toshinori needed to hear. “Hey, you can’t exercise on an empty stomach, you need the energy. Plus, I could use a bit of tea and coffee. Come on, I know a small local place just a short way from here, my treat.”

Again, can anyone tell Izuku a valid reason to say no to an offer like that from his hero? His mom would kill him if he skipped meals now that he thought about it. Man, he felt lucky.

______________________________________________

Much like anything All Might, clearly American themes were a constant with him. The small diner evoked American late 1900s vibes, and the waitress, a kind older lady, took the time to make sure they both had their drinks and a suitable order before she bustled off to a quiet gentleman over on the stools. It was quiet, just how his hero liked it, and they exchanged packets to start talking logistics.

“Okay, so, clearly we have the exercise portion down. I did some research on fitness for your level last night. I plan to put you through some cursory paces today, to get a feel for how I need to structure my plans. Do you see anything in-accurate?” All Might dumped some cream into his coffee, as he’d ordered it first and asked for the tea with his meal. Pancakes, mild sausage, and eggs. Something lighter than what he’d all but forced on Midoriya, who’d gone for the cheapest adult meal, something All Might noted as extreme modesty. They’d bickered for a moment, as he’d reasoned, _‘No you NEED the calories young man, eat something a hair heartier.’_ Although he chuckled lightly, if this was any indication of how well the training would go, he’d be all too relieved. Nana would have liked him. Maybe Torino might as well? He hadn’t heard from the old man in ages…maybe he should send him a letter? He knew the old man could be…harsh and hard-handed, but he knew he meant well…even if he scared the shit out of him.

“N-no I don’t see anything that would be untenable, although you’ve left me a lot of open time after school, I’m sure we could use it as extra exercise time. A-and the food seems more than affordable, m-mom should be okay with it…although I’m afraid she might ask to meet you. Y-you know, s-she might have questions.” Midoriya kept scanning, taking in every minute detail. The notes were extremely through and included a vast amount of free time to relax his muscles to avoid overworking. He was sure he could push the figures a bit though…he snapped back to focus as All Might finished mixing his cream into his coffee, his own tea cooling gently next to him.

“Ah yes, about that evening timeslot. I wanted to clear that with you before I added anything, but I ran into a bit of a snag last night and couldn’t quite clear it up. How far do you live from the nearest hyper train station?” He took a sip of the bitter brew…needs a hair more cream, he grabs another small bottle and tears it open, poring half in, and starting to stir. “Not t-too far, I’d say 15 minutes from my house, and another 5 from the school…why do you ask?” He brought up his tea for a sip, he was so glad his mentor was so thorough, it helped ease his nerves to know they’d both put in so much work to prep for all this.

Maybe he was worth something after all?

“I might need to take you to Might Tower.”

The green boy almost choked on his tea.

_‘I have to be freaking dreaming he said w-wh-whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!’_

Okay, All Might couldn’t help but laugh as the kid all but sputtered his tea. He did his best not to overdo it, no need to cough up blood all over this establishment’s table. Speaking of, Pancake tiiiime! He glanced to watch the kid recover a bit, a new tea placed next to his old one, and one for All Might himself. Ah a calming ginseng, perfect.

“Well, do YOU know anywhere around here that could provide you with appropriate space training equipment?” Although Toshinori knew he’d short circuited the young man for a moment, guess he’d accidentally dropped a neutron bomb on him…oops. Still, call him egotistic, but he liked the reaction, scratched the old ego a bit to know someone held his workplace in such esteem.

Izuku lightly collected himself as his mumbles became full on fanboy, “Y-you mean y-your tower in Minato, Tokyo?! I-I’ve always wanted to go, b-but its always so busy, a-and I didn’t w-want to intrude or or or!” Gosh, he needed to calm down a bit, he breathed lightly to stop himself. “W-well no, I-I don’t know anywhere else, a-and hadn’t considered it. O-our school doesn’t have facilities like that, and most of the gyms around here are more fitness than navy oriented. B-but um…how do we not draw attention?”

He couldn’t believe it! And a small, quiet, but lightly vengeful part of his soul screamed with glee, _‘SUCK IT Kacchan! I get to go to All Might Tower~ I get to go to the Tower~!’_ , although other parts of his brain were just blown away at the opportunity to stand at the foot of a titan’s base. He’d squee with joy if he weren’t any less composed/extremely excited.

“Well, I can usually get in with just my civilian suit and a suitcase. Secretary thinks I’m a fiend of All Might’s, Mr. Yagi, who reports directly to him to help manage the agency. Honestly, I could just say I’m considering you for an internship/trainee and she’d probably wave it, if I really need to, I could just head up, and come back in muscle form to convince her otherwise. Would your mother be comfortable with you being in Tokyo or do we need to schedule a meeting with her to kinda…make it more feasible? I know you noted she likes to have family dinner…and pardon the intrusion but where is your father in all this? I have literal pages on your mother, but not a lick of your dad…” He glances up and stops. The look on the boy’s face turning from the joy of a million suns to something… demure, somber almost. Why did his ‘kick its ass’ instinct flare up?

“W-well…u-um…t-that’s because he uh…………well he isn’t in the picture.” He shifts uncomfortably as All Might takes a deliberately long sip of his coffee. Izuku goes to continue, “He a-and Mom h-had a falling out o-over my quirkless status, and well, being mobile. She wanted a nice home, he wanted to travel Commonwealth space and trade…so they h-had a rough falling out. I-I’ve never really heard from him and didn’t see much of him before I got my diagnosis anyway. I-I think h-he’s paying child support. D-don’t bring him up to M-mom…she uh…well you know.” He looked like he was beating himself up…more than he should.

 ** _‘I’ve known this boy for but a Day, and his soul is nothing short of resilient. His kindness is something to behold, and his selflessness un-yielding…I want to do something very, VERY, unheroic to this man who crushed this boy’s home life. DOES HE HAVE NO HONOR?!’_** All Might mused darkly, although he knew rule one held above all other vengeance. Save him first, then kick the bad guy’s ass if possible. So, he’s going with the more constructive approach. Talk now, smash to dust later…or never.

“Young man let me apologize for bringing up that uncomfortable topic. This said…he was very wrong to not at the very least stick around and nurture that soul of heroics. Your care for creed and general humanity is something inspiring, and that’s based off of merely knowing you recently. I…can’t fix this sort of thing. But let there be no mistake, I’ll be sure to be extremely respectful to your mother should we need to meet to discuss details. Never forget, he was the one to miss out on you, not the other way around.” All Toshinori could do where a few words of encouragement, he knew how quirkless kids tended to be treated was something criminal in the Commonwealth…and he had supported more than his fair share of orphanages. No, they were not for the publicity. In fact, he repeatedly protected them from Media bias by stationing observers around the area to help him protect each one. There were at least two dozen spread across human space. He just wished he could help more. He’d remembered it was one of Nana’s major philanthropic dumps, she’d all but rushed to their aid.

The boy’s face started to glow with that tell tail go-getter attitude again. A hair more subdued, although he clearly wanted to know more. He pulled out a pen from his pocket to jot down in the open time slot on All Might’s papers, just to ensure they had a frame of reference. “S-so, we could start at around 3:30 PM after school on school days, and…at 2 PM on Saturdays. Why are Sundays open?” Toshinori smiled as he swallowed a piece of his pancake, _‘Ah, fluffy’_ “Well, obviously your body isn’t some hybrid super soldier, at least not yet, and you don’t have some hidden quirk that helps you control your muscle repair, right?” The boy nodded as he finished one of his biscuits, the gravy having a nice steam to them, reminded All Might to take a day and visit the American south…they had the best gravy. That aside, “Well, think about it reasonably, you overwork your muscles and they won’t have time to heal. We’re looking to build your body, and we can’t do that without at least some rest time. And plenty of sleep is also a part of this. Pair this with spending time with your mother, and I think this more than reasonable a schedule…although I gotta say. This schedule will be kinda hard. Think you can take it?”

They both already knew the answer, but it never hurt to communicate clearly.

“Of course, Sir!”

_‘Heh, this kid’s got strong Moxy, lets see if it holds up.’_

As they finished their meal they talked about the miscellaneous logistics for the entire affair. Honestly, All Might had expected intelligent, he hadn’t expected brilliant. The little details were all up for discussion, and clarifications, adjustments, and additional planning were put forward as ideas. Surprisingly mature of the young man, which goes to show how much thought he was putting into his future. It both humbled and emboldened his ragged old soul, to see such readiness in a kid barely ready for officer’s school. They’d long sense finished their meal, almost an hour later by the time the kindly waitress came by and gave All Might the check. It took only a moment of scolding to get young Midoriya to cave and let Toshinori pay for it. Plus, Toshinori was rolling in enough money to frankly never worry about most expenses…being Number one and a Fleet Commander to Manticore payed Dividends.

_________________________________________________________

Midoriya groaned loudly as he tugged and tugged, the ropes wrapped around cold steel barely budging. He’d been making some light headway already, and they’d only been at it for half a day. The noon sun beat down on him burning into his shoulders a bit as he took another running start to get it moving again. He wasn’t a quitter by any means, but he was far from strong enough to move a Fridge, AND All Might, who’d proven that the track suit, did in-fact expand to match his muscle mass. At full size the man had to weigh a bunch, because said Fridge was currently not budging, much to his own aggravation. “H-How much more do you Weigh? I was moving this fridge just fine a minute ago, and now it won’t even budge! Don’t you weigh over 270 kilos?” He panted as he collapsed a bit, digging his fingers in the sand with frustration. **“What? Its, not that much! Heck, I’ve even lost weight, I’m only 255 now.”** _‘Ha-ha, very funny All Might, that’s still another hundred kg more than the dang fridge! I’m basically dragging almost half a ton across sand, SAND!’_

Still, All Might chuckled up on his little perch, as Izuku pounded down into the dirt yet again from his hasty attempt at a ground drag. **“You know kid, for someone trying to get into the Navy Quirkless AND be a Hero, you’re mighty scrawny. As it stands, while your endurance is to be applauded…man you really need some Anaerobics, as you are now, I think my plan might need some light adjustments to account for the stamina, but otherwise you are FAR from being ready for my quirk.”**

Of course, despite all their prior conversation, the kid took it the wrong way…although All Might would be lying if he said the flailing wasn’t a bit funny. “B-b-b-b-Ut you said I was worthy!” He jumped off and poofed down to his more comfortable skeletal form. “Kid, calm down, ‘worthy’ and ‘ready’ are going to have to be two different things for you from here on out. You’ve got the spirit, but your body couldn’t handle the sheer power overload. Come on, use that big head of yours full of fan boy knowledge! Think of how much power I can put down, versus your frame…and tell me that wouldn’t blow your limbs off.” He’d hated to use such violent symbolism, but it was the honest truth, Nana had said as much, and he wasn’t going to give the kid too hard a time for not being ‘ready’. _‘Ah, add that to the list, confidence issues are a must fix, can’t save hearts if your own doesn’t feel the resiliency you wish to project…even if it is occasionally forced.’_ Still the kid seemed rather invigorated for someone who was doing his damnedest to pull a fridge of all things.

Baseline measurements from the morning aside, Toshinori had to cut today’s session short once the boy hefted the heavy metal up the stairs. All by himself, which made Toshinori smile, despite his short comings this kid would hold out, even if he would be dog tired the full ten months. “Alright young man, hold up a moment, we’re going to have to call it a bit early today.” He’d pretend not to see the deflated disappointment. “After all, you need to go get cleaned up and have a bit of lunch, I need to go put on my suit to try a convincing trainer routine! After all, we really don’t want your Mother disapproving of our work ey?” At that the boy paled lightly before the good ol’ determination set in. Although…he noticeably paled again, and Toshinori was a hair concerned that Midoriya might be getting a bit cold footed.

Realistically, he should have gone with the fanboy option.

_‘Oh my God, All Might is going to be in my house…’_

It was all he could do not to freak the hell out.

_________________________________________________

Scratch that freaking the hell out as he showered seemed the most apt thing to do once he got back to his modest abode. His mother was in the kitchen cooking up a quick lunch for him and had insisted on setting aside some tea stuffs for their soon to be guest. They really didn’t get visitors often, so the fact that they were getting one at all had her bustling about the house in a furious pace. She’d apparently started dusting as soon as he’d sent her that text at Noon, and all but ordered him to shower (even if he was apparently going to be doing something later, the fact that her baby boy was out and about smelling like a garbage heap would simply NOT fly). He was glad for the small moment of privacy to both geek out and worry over how All Might would deal with his mother. It wasn’t that she was…difficult per say, quite the opposite for the most part, but, it was important that she approved. He really didn’t want to cause any trouble with his mom and the conversation this morning probably gave similar conclusions to All Might.

He still was a bit flustered that he would be getting an Official visit from the man who all but shaped his childhood projections of heroism.

In his house.

Talking to HIS mom.

And advocating for HIS heroic future.

Freaking awesome.

Still he dried off quickly, rapidly put on presentable cloths, and rushed to his room to grab a notebook (in case they did in-fact get to go to the tower today) and to make sure his bed was tidy. He wouldn’t be in the room, sure, but he wanted his room presentable. Old habits he supposed. Plus, the activity helped him keep his nerves down.

Midway through finishing tucking his All Might sheets into proper corners, he heard his mother, “Izuku honey! Lunch is ready!” And he was sure to fix this up in a flash. As soon as it was finished up, he moved to get to the kitchen table as fast as he could, All Might would be here in all but 15 minutes if his guestimates were correct. He wanted to be extra sure he was ready. Of course, he didn’t notice the crack in his bedroom door, as it stayed open behind him, just enough to see a little bit of the room.

He sat down with little fan fair, although clearly his mother was similarly nervous. She went about brushing her skirt repeatedly, an old nervous habit he’d picked up on, as she began to question him. “Now, last night, I didn’t ask but what exactly is this man like? What does he look like? What can I expect for training fees?—”, he was ready for these…he hoped. “Um well he’s very nice, and v-very knowledgeable about the Navy and Heroics, he helps manage and train people for Might Tower, and um he h-heard about me from All M-might. He’s uh, B-blonde w-with blue eyes, and very skinny, and um tall, a bit tall. No Fees from what I know of, j-just some community service work and m-maybe your consent.” He really hoped this would go over well. Talk about major interviews, although so far his mother seemed receptive. Man, he hoped All Might was on the ball today…and midway through a small amount of his Udon, the doorbell rings.

“You stay there honey and finish your meal, I’ll go check. Perhaps our guest is just as punctual as you.” He could hear the slight bit of judgement in her voice for skipping breakfast this morning…he’d jumped the gun just a little, he knew…but he just really wanted to get to it. Plus, their little breakfast discussion had been the most productive heroics and naval discussions he’d had IRL in ages. Sure, he was active on forums, but nothing beat learning from a real Pro. Although, maybe for the future he might need to clear some of the early morning stuff with her…

________________________________________________________

Yagi wasn’t a nervous man, far from it, he WAS in fact All Might. But for some reason this door was one of the more intimidating ones he’d looked at in a while. Hell, Nedzu’s barely beat it, and that was because he understood the principal enough to fear him reasonably. This was a whole new threat, and one that stood to sink a fleet before it even got off the shipyard. Miss Midoriya sounded like a nice, polite, mother; which also meant she had the trappings of a mother’s instincts. So, he was now preparing to guide a battleship, through mine infested waters, with just a little intel, and no lifeboats…greeeaaaaat.

Still, he hoped he’d dressed to impress. His blue service dress was crisp, and he’d opted out of wearing the cap, simply for the sake of politeness indoors. He’d opted for his undercover lower ranked uniform that he liked to use as a lower ranked (although still significantly high) officer. It did wonders for when he went on anti-corruption raids and kept Naval command on their toes to cross their Q’s and Dot their I’s. Didn’t help that no one had ever caught on to his little ruse. But in this case, it also made sure that he didn’t appear above the station of playing the part as ‘All Might’s Assistant’. This way, they could keep up the charade AND he could make it apparent what this portion of his training was for with less issues. Still, he really hoped O-5 wasn’t too high, he really didn’t want to intimidate her. He nervously rang the doorbell and stood ramrod straight. He was going to make a damn good impression.

Now imagine his shock when he saw basically a slightly chubbier, shorter, Nana Shimura open the door to stare back at him.

Oh, he had to all but force himself to keep his posture so as not to double over in shock.

Doesn’t help she was extremely Pretty by his standards.

_‘Easy there pilot, one step at a time.’_

“Ehem, I was wondering if this was the Midoriya Residence?” _‘Nailed IT!’_

“Ah, you must be Mr. Yagi, or um I’m terribly sorry I don’t really know the ranking system…”

 _‘So that’s where the nerves come from, huh, neat.’_ “Oh! How rude of me, uh, Ehem Commander Toshinori Yagi of Manticore, Advisor to Fleet Admiral All Might, and Manager/Head trainer at Might Tower when off Fleet duties, Ma’am!” He went into a practiced, comfortable, formal pose, hands to his back, feet shoulder width apart as he commenced his introduction. He desperately held back a blush as she smiled brightly to him. Although, that worry swam in her eyes…a worry he knew all too well remembered in the eyes of many a mother he’d met in family days around the fleet. Never got any easier.

“M-may I come in Miss? I’d really like to discuss your son’s future and interest in both Heroics and the Navy.” _‘Cool as a cucumber All Might, cool and relaxed, don’t let the eyes wonder, focus, focus, focus.’_

She jumped a little and mumbled something about herself being rude before she nervously chittered out, “U-um right this way sir! I-I’m terribly sorry about making you wait. H-how do you like your tea?” He bowed in return graciously, “Thank you, very much for letting me visit your home, I do hope I’m not intruding too quickly. I was simply eager to try and get a head start on the young man’s training.” He slowly and very gently placed his shoes by the door, he was a proper guest damn it and he was going to be very polite. “Ah, I like mine with a bit of sugar, I picked it up from my American crew mates and just can’t have a cup without a little anymore. Thank you for the hospitality.” He relaxed his posture a little at her polite nod and gentle deminer. “Of course, make yourself at home Commander. I’m honored to have such a senior officer take interest in my son. He’s always had such a strong interest in heroics and defending others. I do hope, um, that our home isn’t too under prepared, I-I only really got half an hour.” She swept a small loose hair away from her face as she commented and turned to head into the home and prepare him a pot of tea.

_‘Aaand I guess I’ll die, young man, have you a grudge against such a haggard soul as I?’_

He really needed to cool his jets and keep professional…

Yea…

Like he stood a chance.

Still, he finally got to walking down the hall, the hems of his pants rolled a little to allow for his pants not to brush the floor. He slowly examined the pictures on the walls, a small smile on his face. Now this, this was new for him. He’d never visited the homes of his sailors, but he couldn’t help but find it ideal. Pictures littered the walls in the hallway. Her son’s birthdays…mostly of just him and his mom, major milestones, trips…mostly just his mom and her boy. To give up such a peaceful, loving family, Toshinori couldn’t fathom. Oh, he was SOOO filing that report later to look for a male Midoriya in the trade industry…he just wanted to talk…

At any rate, dark thoughts aside, he paused as he passed the boy’s bedroom. Sure, it felt like he might be prying a bit much, but he couldn’t help but smile at the All Might themed door nameplate. And the glimpse he got into the room told him the kid was just as much a fanboy as he supposed. He could see a couple action figures, an All Might bedspread, a couple posters…man that kid was rolling in All Merch.

All Might would be a filthy liar if he said he didn’t have birthday present ideas. Still, that was for later, now he had a training regime to sell. So, he straightened his jacket, puffed out a nervous puff of air, and gently wiped away a small trickle of blood from his lips (He was so glad he hadn’t lost it at the door). He was going to do this, and he was going to make sure this kid was space fairing ready dang it.

____________________________________________________

He sat down at the kitchen table across from Midoriya, and he gave the young man a winning smile. Izuku returned it, although he’d made sure to swallow the last of his Udon before returning the gesture. Both of them were on a similar track.

_‘Show time.’_

“You have such a lovely home Miss Midoriya, I can’t thank you enough for having me over on such short notice.” He placed his hands together on the table in a relaxed manner, the smell of Udon making his mouth water just a little. He wasn’t as hungry as he would have been if he’d still had his stomach, but this food smelled fantastic.

“Oh, like I said, its an honor Commander Yagi, I can’t help but be glad someone so important has taken an interest in my boy. Again, I hope you don’t mind if everything seems a tad rushed together.” Her gentle smile sent his head for a loop. _‘Easy there, we aren’t even in the thick of it yet.’_ He chuckles lightheartedly,” Oh I can’t exactly blame you Miss, and no need for such formality Yagi is more than appropriate for a home visit. Speaking of your young man, I do hope he didn’t give you too much trouble this morning, I’ll admit we were both a little eager to start training.” He smiled sheepishly, while Izuku kept glancing between the two. His mother sat a fresh cup of tea in front of Toshinori, who exchanged a look with the young man that amounted to ‘We’ve got this!’.

She sat down next to her son and got to business. “Oh, he knows very well how I feel about his skipping breakfast.” She sent a slightly bemused pointed look his way…the boy started to sweat nervously but did his best to seem apologetic. “However, you have my thanks for feeding him this morning.”

“Oh, it was no problem Miss, I figured it to be a reasonable thing to do, after all it was quite early, and he was certainly going to need the energy later. But to speak of his training, we are going to need your consent for the second half of his regimen.” She sighed, but appeared to consider it further, “What all would this entail?”

“He’d need to come to Might Tower and take part in our Space preparation training. I know most Academies help with this after they reach high school, but since your son is considering Naval training and U.A. specifically, I thereby think it more than reasonable to pre-emptively begin his training in this regard. Ear Canal training to help with the weightlessness, more formalized training equipment, perception training, among other things which are traditionally learned at a later phase. Plus, I think it would really help him get to know the industry a bit before he begins Highschool selections. I also think this would make for an excellent after school activity. The Admiral expressed an interest in seeing what the boy could do, and I myself think him a prime candidate for selection. However, it will require your consent, and some co-operation on your behalf. His diet will need some light changes to ensure that he can gain an appropriate amount of mass before he ships out in the late fall. I will be aboard the vessel that will be taking them to the Stronghold for both U.A.’s practical portion and Maneuver simulations. He will likely take the ‘written’ portions for both entrance examinations online. This is so we can grade him quickly. So…What do you think?” Once All Might finishes his debrief he looks to her intently. He knows it’s a lot to take in, but she really needs to know. Space is not for the weak willed and had swallowed up countless millions to its void. Still she wanted to probe for a few things, he could tell.

“I thought weightlessness training was only for if he’d be preparing for space without Gravity generators, aren’t most ships outfitted with those these days?” She held her hands together, to mask her nervous shaking. She knew the risk of space travel.

“I can totally understand that sentiment, however, I would like to note that disorientation is common in fresh crews, especially general enlistees. We frequently encourage the training to help with that, and to ensure that, in the event of an emergency or catastrophic failure, that your son has the best chance at survival. All Might and I both agree, if he’s going out there with the intent on out preforming others, he’s going to need the familiarity.” This was going way smoother than he anticipated…man those press training days were coming in way better handy than he’d thought.

“A-and why the interest in my son…specifically?” _‘You call em too early and you get flanked Yagi, gotta remember Nedzu drilled that shit into you!’_

“Ah, well, he exhibited a fair amount of heroism the other day, and it caught the Admiral’s eye. He’d enquired the boy about his interest for the future, and one thing lead to another. I must say, I can certainly see the qualities the Admiral saw in him. Plus, you never know, even if he might appear quirkless now, there’s a small chance that we simply haven’t met an activation requirement. In all our science on the matter, we’re still finding out new things about quirks every day. And even if not, his drive is beyond commendable. You should have seen the fridge he lugged around today like it was nothing!” _‘On a roll Yagi, on a roll! Look cool and you might just get the boy on the next train to Tokyo.’_ Still that gleam of pride in her eyes did something to his heart rate he’d rather not acknowledge.

“W-well he is a selfless boy, i-if a bit…reckless.” She commented lightly; Izuku’s blush was something comical, and he had to do his best not to laugh a bit. “I-if you feel it necessary, a-and as long as it isn’t any trouble…I…I’d be honored to work with you. Um, but I-I have some conditions.” Yagi straightened at that, Oooh he’d heard these words before, Torino had liked to put them on his training regimen, and Nedzu had taken terrifying glee in placing them quietly in contracts…so he’d actually read all 800 pages just to be safe. He really hoped they weren’t too bad… “Proceed, I think it more than reasonable to have some lines for reasonable conduct. I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable with the arrangements.”

“Um,” she paused to collect herself…wow it was both surprisingly easy to talk to this commander and still terrifying to make such request. “I-I want updates. I want to know my baby boy is safe and sound. If possible, I would like him to at least have meals at home, dinners especially even if they are a hair late. I’ll be sure to pack extra in his bento to tide him over.” All Might nodded, reasonable so far. “I want a thorough document detailing the regimen, a-and any or all food recommendations along with any other requirements so I can enforce them properly here at home. Um…and I would like you to at least meet with me a couple times a month to have a more detailed discussion. K-kindof like a parent teacher conference. His health is i-important to me…and he’s all I have. P-please understand…I know it’s a lot to ask…but he’s my baby. A-and I want him to be at least somewhat safe.” All Might’s eyes turned a hair somber at that…if only she knew the sheer magnitude of what this boy was planning to undertake…for her safety he’d have to omit small things, no less grand in their implications. But it was for the best.

This said, 99.9% of that was extremely agreeable. He’d take this deal any day. Sure, it’d be a bit more paperwork, but it beat the hell out of a big fat NO.

Plus, she seemed nice…

 _‘DOWN YAGI DOWN!’_ He sighs, and nods.

“Of course, all of these conditions are more than acceptable. I’ll be sure to email the documents tonight for your record keeping, I just wanted to ensure the Tower wouldn’t be too far for him to journey for his training. Dagobah beach will take up a suitable amount of his time for some community service but Might tower is reserved for space training. I’ll be sure that he makes it back at a reasonable time. If we ever run late, I will be sure you’re notified.” He bows a bit in his seat. “I hope we can continue working together to build this young man’s future.” She bows as well, and the young boy in question looked about ready to explode with excitement.

“Thank you Mr. Yagi, M-my son is in your care.” He liked how smoothly this went…no major catches, no hang ups and they could get going later today. Thank the stars above, he’s got a winning streak going already!

“Alright, Young man, how’s about we head over for a tour of the Training facility and a quick evening session on some of our training equipment?” His smile returned grandly, as this visit came to a close.

Izuku seemed to bolt from his seat. “Y-Yes SIR! U-um let me go grab a few things!” He jogs over to his room to grab his backpack and a nice jacket…it was cold out after all.

His mother hummed fondly, a hand on her cheek. “Thank you so much for this, he’s been a bit down lately, and I worried he wouldn’t get to have much fun before selection this year. All Might Tower has been a major dream for him, but we’ve both been so busy that I hadn’t gotten the chance to take him…would it be a bit much to ask for an opportunity to see his hero again? He loves All Might, has sense he was little, and it would mean a lot to him.” Her small smile sent his soul for a gravity loop. And a small blush rose to his cheek at the indirect praise.

“O-oh I’m sure the boss will want to talk to him some. He’s really a bright young man, and I see so much potential in him. H-hopefully he’ll take to the training. D-do you need my contact information?” He was sure he was going to die. _‘It’s just for business, it’s just for business, it’s just for business. Snap out of it!’_

Soon they exchange contact information, he finishes the last bit of his tea, and Izuku is all but vibrating at the door. Clearly he wanted to train…and see Might Tower…

_‘And just like that, permission to launch. It’s go time!’_

_____________________________________________________

Izuku all but vibrated in his seat on the hyper train. He was going to be in Might tower, MIGHT TOWER.

Beyond way past cool.

He almost couldn’t believe it.

And as they arrived, and he walked alongside his mentor to the gates, he couldn’t help but watch in awe.

” Now, we’re going to need to print you up a permanent pass so you can visit more often than just today. But, for now we’ll use guest clearance. Just follow my lead, and we’ll be training in no time.” Toshinori smiled back to the boy. Gosh, he looked like Christmas had come early…what an exuberant fanboy.

As he walked to the receptionist, she smiled up at the two. “Ah Mr. Yagi, it’s nice to see that the _Executor_ and Manticore proper are in system. Will we be seeing All Might here today?”

“No, No, not today, Mr. Might has some business he needs to take care of. Speaking of which, I would like to give this young man a day pass for his visit today, but we will need a permanent permissions pass. Think you could get one printed up for me?” He smiled back as he nodded over to the now absolutely ecstatic ball of joy behind him. Izuku appeared to be taking every inch of the place in, and he’d barely been here a few minutes.

“Of course, sir, on what grounds will he be here? Just so I know the clearance level to give him.” She seemed unaffected by the kid’s jumpy, extremely exuberant nature…she’s dealt with plenty super fans in her day. No need to fret over one that was getting to be a part of the team. “Give him Level 2 clearance, he’ll need to be able to access All Might’s office for meetings, and the Training facility. We’re going to put him through his general space training paces, so we want to be sure he has the most general availability. Level 1 would be too much, he isn’t working here, nor is he going to need access to the battle prep room.”

“Of course, sir, he can pick it up here in about an hour.” She smiled back warmly.

“Thank you, and keep up the good work, Mr. Might and I highly appreciate your hard work.” He smiled and passed the small guest card to Izuku, who took it with reverence. “Here kid, you can keep this, it’s only good for today, but you’ll need it to help get around without any alarms going off. Now follow me, we need to hit the training room.”

“O-of c-co-ourse! Th-thank you.” Izuku fumbled, he really needed to get a grip, but he couldn’t help it. This place was on his bucket list! And he got to EXPLORE?! How awesome could this get?

____________________________________________________

He’d spoken too soon. It got way cooler. The training equipment looked a bit intimidating, but once he got strapped in and used to the controls and the feeling of being in the tower…he couldn’t help but recognize the cool factor. He felt so, so very lucky.

Beyond that the training itself became grueling.

Spinning around had his stomach in knots, his focus all over the place, and frankly…he’d wanted off that wild ride. From there they did some Zero Grav tank practice, and he’d gotten used to not quite feeling like he’s able to control his momentum. The obstacle course that was in the Zero Grav tank had turned out to be both one of the most fun things around, but also the most difficult.

And he THRIVED for this challenge.

He ran it again and again until All Might called him out to review the footage. They broke down his movement patterns, his considerations he’d need to make for larger spaces like hanger bays and larger hulled ships, jump distances, and getting used to floating debris…which would be coming along in the summer portion of his training. Debris got tricky, and he wanted to be sure the boy could navigate before he got to dealing with the various traps the eggheads had thought up. Introducing him to said egg heads hadn’t exactly been something he’d expected to do today, but All Might was happy to know they highly welcomed the additional data.

But Izuku had a blast.

His sore body the next day, however, had despised the day’s work prior. He’d barely been able to get up. But he knew he needed to keep rocking…so he got to it. Still, he kept up with forums, relaxed, and generally enjoyed his day with his mother. And soon he began to grow used to the new routine.

School was still important, both he and All Might had invested a fair amount in securing additional study materials and in setting aside time to train the mind in conjunction with the body. That wasn’t to say he enjoyed school, but clearly it wasn’t all bad.

In fact, as the weeks drew on, and the days turned to months…school became fairly bearable. He got into a few new habits and may have pushed himself a bit harder than he should. But it went relatively better. The bullying cut down a little bit, although not a ton, it did noticeably lull, and Bakugou, for whatever reason, had dropped messing with him all together. Only the occasional grunt in his direction, but nothing actually threatening. This was apparently the cue for the others to drop him a bit too, so his school days only ever went with the occasional weird look, or quiet insult.

It un-nerved him a bit, but if he was honest, his classmates were the least of his worries.

He kept going, spring turning to summer. His routine growing to match the open free time a bit, with some extra time spent going over more Navy oriented study, rather than the usual schoolwork. The beach, due to being a hair clearer, allowed him to swim a bit, which was excellent cardio. He got to where he lifted bigger materials, carried larger loads, and generally was clearing the beach at an unwieldy pace. Izuku was exhausted, he was occasionally bruised, and a bit out of it…but he craved the chance to achieve his dreams.

So, he soldiered on. Day by day, he could feel himself growing a little stronger, and although he strayed a bit from the regimen, his mother and All Might had both put a stop to it as soon as he’d stepped out of line noticeably. Which was another weird outcome of all this.

All Might and his mother had grown to be relatively familiar. They talked at length about his training, trading notes, new findings, and other information. But then they just kinda talked, and shared stories, laughed and generally had a good time around each other… it was a bit weird for him, but hey, if his mom was happy, that was all he needed to know whatever was going on was pretty good.

He spent his evenings using the Tower’s gym to the best of his ability, training over and over, running simulation after simulation. Dodging debris, not getting sick on the spinner, and generally just getting in his time on a few of the specialized machines to help with muscle groups that they might miss with the trash pickup.

He’d never felt so invigorated in his life. 

He’d never felt so wanted.

And he’d be damned if he ever gave this up.

Never again…would his dream fall to the will of others if he could have his way.

After 7 months, the digital test taking period came and went, something that had Izuku all but worried sick. All Might had proposed they go to Liberty Burger to celebrate getting it out of the way, and he’d brought his mother along. For the first time in years he’d watched her blossom from quietly worrying, sad, and barely keeping that pep in her step, to that smiling woman he remembered from his earliest days. The one who hid under covers for him to come ‘rescue’ or who took the time to make All Might shaped Onigiri for his bento box. She’d even been exercising too, joining him on jogs, lifting weights at the house (some of the lighter ones that he didn’t use any more, since upgrading to keep up with the new strength constraints), taking care of herself again…it made him so happy. And while she hadn’t gotten rid of all the ‘chub’ as she called it…well her results showed.

So, imagine his surprise when people started to mistake his MOM for a sister.

His mortification was legendary.

And when a guy who couldn’t have been older than 21 hit on her at the mall, he was sure he was going to die of embarrassment, right then, right there. Dead.

Not like his mom was any better. She’d turned redder than Crimson Riot’s hair and stuttered a quiet ‘thank you but not interested’ as she hurried past with groceries and him trailing behind at a similar pace.

At around month 9 she’d run into Mitsuki on one of their jogs, and the double take was nothing short of priceless.

“Oh, hey, Izuku! How’s it going little green?” She’d shouted up ahead as her path crossed his and his mother’s. She hadn’t recognized her best friend yet, and to be fair it’d been a year or so since they’d seen each other…him and Katsuki’s negative relationship heavily contributed to the divide. “Oh I-I’m doing alright Aunt Mitsuki! I-it’s good to see you, g-getting some exercise?” As she neared, it became apparent she was in nothing but a sports bra and jogging shorts. Had he been any less an embarrassed teen, he’d have probably been more conscious of this fact. “Yea, the brats been busy prepping at a local gym for U.A. and quit coming with me, so I’m on muh own.” She slows for a conversation, as he and his mother slow to greet her, and take some swigs from their water bottles.

“You know kid, I didn’t know you were getting into fitness, look at you lookin’ all lean. Inko’s gotta keep em off you with a stick, don’t she?” She smirks with a chuckle, watching the boy fumble was something of a treat. Had his dad not been a deadbeat, she was sure it might not be this fun. “W-well I uh, started 9 months ago…I kinda figured I’d need to push myself if I wanted to get into U-U.A. hahaHa…” He chuckled nervously, omitting info from Aunt Mitsuki was gonna be so freaking tough…wAiT!

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe how much he’s put into it Mitsu, he’s been so devoted to this, you’d think he’s got nothing else on the mind…least among them girls.” His mother jabbed at his lady skills, and terrible self-awareness. Not that she could blame him if he hung around Yagi so much. But the look on Mitsuki’s face was one of deathly shock.

………

“INKO!?”

His mother, no less oblivious than him, looked around for a second and smiled back at her. “U-um yes Mitsu?”

The Bakugou matriarch circled Inko, scrutinizing her for a moment nodding along. “Damn, you’re lookin’ good in that jogging set Inko, and you’ve lost so much weight! N-not that it was a u-um problem. But I’m just so surprised. What got this going? I’m so Fucking proud I could scream!” She all but hopped onto his mother, wrapping her in a sweaty hug. Although his mother returned it with little issue. “Oh w-well I-I just figured s-since my son was going t-to um…well work so hard…I-it might be prudent to s-support him and…” Her blush told Mitsuki other stories, however.

Ah, so some man had caught the greenettes eyes…veeery interesting. She’d tease the shit out of her later, no, now was time to catch up…and tease her adoptive Nephew to death…what it was entertaining, sue her! O-or don’t she didn’t need any more legal paperwork since her son was a walking destructive device…yes she had to get permits. “Hey, no worries Inko, I’m just happy to see you looking so lively. Want me to tag along for this leg so we can catch up?” Izuku paled…frick this jog just got so much longer…kill him.

Please.

____________________________________________________________

As Izuku sat down at the Tower that day in preparation for his exercise in the Zero Grav bay, his mentor looked him up and down quizzically. The boy looked so haggard, shell shocked, and nothing short of mortified. What the hell happened? He really hoped no one had hit on his mom in public again. N-not that he had anything against people complementing her, but he uh just wanted to preserve the boy’s innocence. Yea. That.

“My boy, you’re looking a bit out of it, what uh, what happened?”  
He sat there quietly for a moment then he jolted to life.

“O-oh! Um…well…I uh. Ran into an old family friend.” ‘ _Well that wasn’t so bad. So why the pale?’_

“She um, she’s friends with my mom, and joined us halfway through our jog. She uh, hadn’t seen the changes I’ve made, nor mom’s so she uh…well she was surprised. We jogged a bit, and she spent the duration teasing me…so yea…kinda, kinda reeling a bit.” Oh, that wasn’t the half of it, they’d done the half mark stretches and she’d been sure to show off. Right. In. Front. Of. Him. Like he didn’t view her as an Aunt in all but blood and proceeded to make his brain all sorts of wound up. Short circuiting and doing his best to ignore her and his mom making quips about when he’d bring a girl home had not been what he called ‘Something to enjoy on my Saturday’.

 _‘Ho boy, the opposite sex strikes again…poor kid.’_ Not that he was any better. All Might for the life of him, could not stand against a genuine flirt. Fangirls were one thing, women who actually wanted a piece of him were another. He’d never forget when Midnight had taken a shot at him after she’d debut. They were friends now, and soon to be colleagues if Nedzu’s paperwork got through the Navy and Hero association got him hired on at U.A.

But Inko…gosh he’d sweat something fierce under that woman’s scrutiny. It didn’t help that he all but super shined his shoes, metals, and made sure his seams and patch work were in good order. He was always in his blues for a visit. Because he knew she liked em. But as she’d gotten a bit healthier…she’d uh…gotten a hair bold. And to say his brain went into meltdown would have to be the understatement of the century. To be under the scrutiny of her and apparently an attractive friend who he looked up to, would probably break him, if he took the young man’s perspective. He had some pride in his protégé for doing this well…but on the same edge he knew the kid was hopeless. Much like himself.

_‘Maybe you can bust out of your shell a bit if you get into U.A…Good luck kid.’_

__________________________________________________

Star date: 11/ 30/ 2500

Today was the day.

Ship out day.

He’d packed his bags for the short trip, 7 days up, 7 back, and two sets of exercise cloths for every day in case of tears, injuries, or general mishaps.

Toothbrush? Check.

Deodorant? Check.

Bath stuffs? Check.

Hairbrush? Check.

Casualwear? Check.

Formalwear? Check.

Notebooks? Double check.

Phone? Check.

Backpack? Check.

Small Gaming holo-pad? Check.

Pens? Check.

Gift from mom…a wobbly smile and tears in his eyes as he ran a hand over it…check.

She’d went out of her way and bought him a golden Rising sun badge, an American Flag Pin, and an All Might inspired Pin, to wear on his vest for the Invitational Dinner. U.A. had the formal event to double as both a celebration of their annual Selection and Entrance exam, AND as a means of interacting with and talking to the perspective students. He was reserved for seat 3 table 2 for his VERY high scores on the written exam. He’d heard from his mother that Katsuki had landed a spot at table 4 since U.A. liked to separate students from the same school if they could help it. ‘Swim on your own’ they liked to call it. He liked to think ‘Drown on your own, but quietly.’ All Might had gotten him a comfortable, but very VERY expensive suit for the occasion. It was being sent ahead to his room aboard the vessel that was transporting Unity residents from Japan. The administration liked to make a show of it, so U.A. would call in troop transports for the initial assent, and then dock with a Kobayashi Class or higher sized ship in orbit. This year was a special year for the school, as it celebrated its 299th year in service soon. So, they decided to put them aboard the Beauclair Class Battleship…BATTLESHIP, _Artemis_. It was one of the older generation ships that had been designed at the beginning of the Battleship class’s inception, but it hadn’t been in service for very long. Over 4,000 applicants reached this stage, but that was weeding out the rest for general selection for other academies to place in their for ROTC programs. This was for all the Credits. The final chance at U.A.

This selection process would knock them all down to less than 100. The 2 for selection through recommendations for each class not-withstanding.

Izuku’d pulled out all the stops to pack the night before. He even planned to bring his All Might hoodie, his oldest action figure, and a pillow his mom made for him a while back…yes it had an all might pattern on it…silver age designed. Because he was more nervous than he should be.

Still, he got up early…he was finishing what he started 10 months ago.

Hell.

Or high water.

________________________________________________

All Might pulled up to the beach. This would be the last time he would see Izuku as mentor for the next 14 days. On those days, he’d be Fleet Admiral, Commander of the _Executor_ and Manticore in charge of escorting the _Artemis_ to U.A. And then docking to watch the proceeding testing and take part in some of the festivities.

He groaned as he stretched his arms over his head.

 _‘Man, the kid had to run it down to the last minute ey?’_ Still it was a gargantuan feat, to clear this beach.

He was sure he was going to give the kid his Quirk anyway, he’d be silly not to at this point. But, he couldn’t help but smile a bit as he got out of the car with his morning coffee. He was proud of the young man for getting this far. He’d scraped up from nothing into something pretty quick and had been a regular staple of the Tower since he started visiting. He wasn’t going to tell him, but the tower unit was going to see him off at the parade today. Japan’s selection was tight, and the number was exceptionally low for the threshold they’d want…and Izuku had excelled at the written portion.

Nedzu to his credit, had absolutely GUSHED to him over email at the sheer quality of the boy’s analytical data. All but begging to let him just sign off on a recommendation and just B.S. the commission into letting him aboard. However, he’d acknowledged wanting to see if the kid could preform as well as his brain worked. So, with a light grudging grumble to his responding email, Nedzu pulled back his talons to let the kid’s wings open on their own.

His musings grinded to a halt at the sound of a war cry.

“RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Izuku raged at the sun from atop his pile-o-metal and material. All Might surged forward to check out the boy’s progress and gaped at the sheer cleanliness of the beach. Sweat dripped down his visage as he stood in triumph. He’d pushed beyond his limits something fierce and had at several points in their journey collapsed from exhaustion. But today…today he’d proven his mettle.

Not an ounce of trash.

No cans.

No bedsprings.

And not a single fender or tire.

Nothing but clean sand and sparkling waves.

His boy had done it.

“Woah, woah, woah! Kid you even cleaned outside the limits we set! I don’t see anything even all the way down to the bend on either side! Oh my, oh my, oh my! **GOODNEEEEEESSSS!!”** He buffed up out of sheer pride in this young man. And as luck would have it, the boy collapsed off the pile, only to be caught in All Might’s arms.

 **“My Boy, you have done something special today. I cannot say enough how beyond proud I am of you! And with such a photo finish! You surprised me, you entertainer!”** , he sets Izuku on his feet right at the base of the stairs. **“Look at yourself and bask in your development! You’ve come a long way young man; from the scrawny fanboy I knew but 10 months ago.”** He gives Midoriya an appraising look over, his legs showing to be fairly athletic, building into a strong set of thighs. He gave his uncovered chest a quick look, the abdominals shown with promise, strength, and zeal, sweat running down him causing his body to shine just a bit. No matter how much they worked, they couldn’t get rid of that pasty skin. His pectorals were proportionally strong for a boy his age, and very present. His shoulders, a hair wider than they had been months ago, lead into firm lean arms. Truly, he was a promising, promising vessel. Not quite super strong yet, they had built him in a hurry…but it was something. And something to be proud of.

 **“Here, see this picture? That was you while you were tugging on that fridge day one! Now,”** All Might paused and took a picture, showing it to him subsequently, **“Now look at you. Quite the improvement, ey young man?”**

The boy proceeded to nod, tears beginning to show as it set in…he’d really done it huh? He was about to trek to the core of humanity’s defense and take a shot to build a career as a Hero and Officer of the Commonwealth Navy. He shook his head in joy, vindication flowing from him effortlessly for the first time in months. “I-I don’t know what to say…th-thank you All Might. *Hiccup* I feel, so blessed!”

All Might smiled, man, the kid was such a sap…and so very humble. He hoped one day the boy could hold his head and esteem higher. **“I believe after such a lengthy campaign, with such success that an Award ceremony is in order! Recruit to be Midoriya Izuku, ATTENTION!”** The boy snapped to a more composed, but no less teary eyed and snotty nosed stance. He wiped helplessly to attempt to stem the flow. “S-SIR!” He couldn’t help how happy he was, and it was so very nice to finally have that level of support. **“For your hard work, sacrifice, and commitment to the heroic Ideal, you are to be awarded. Let it be noted and take this to heart. This power, you earned from your own effort. Through the trials of strength, endurance, and grit did you pulled forward. There is a difference between being lucky and deserving, one an accident of fate and the other a reward. NEVER confuse the two. You did this yourself. Congratulations young man!”** He plucks a hair from one of his V portions in his hairdo, smiling, he looks to the young man with pride. **“My Quirk is now yours to inherit.”**

And so, like a hero from some epic long ago, like a gift from Prometheus **,** or some other divine providence, Izuku reached out, with his no longer quite so feeble hands, and took hold of destiny. For he was now the next man to hold up worlds, forged into a fledging Titan in his own rite. Atlas has now taken shape. But would need time to grow used to his burden and grow strong.

Baby steps into becoming a defender of peace and humanity.

**“Now, EAT THIS!”**

“H-huh?”

**“WE DON’T HAVE TIME, THE PARADE IS IN A FEW HOURS, AND WE CAN’T BE LATE!”**

“W-What, h-huh?!”

**“I’LL EXPLAIN LATER YOUNG MAN, NOW EAT, EAT, EAAAAAAAAT!”**

_Clearly, they had a while before this Titan could grasp his true potential. Fresh from the forge, he would not need to wait terribly long for battle. For the true trials come after training._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo...What do you think? I tried to start my changes from the Cannon a bit more here. I always kinda found it a bit weird how detached Izuku's mom and other parts of his life were disconnected from his training. Now...I know, I did Hizashi pretty Dirty here. But let it be said on the record, I'm not a fan of absentee parenting. I'd understand if he was a soldier, or stuck in the middle of nowhere. But to my knowledge it was by his own volition. In the original cannon it appears to be benevolent. However, he really wasn't there for Izuku like a dad kinda needs to be. Sooo I decided to switch it up a bit. Hope everyone liked it. I also thought planning it out was severely left to winging it, which wouldn't fly for...ya know, leaving the planet. 20 pages single spaced....good gosh I'm a wordy monster. Or just a monster...you've no idea how I've planned for the coming Archs dear readers....Hehahhehahhahahaaaaaa! I highly welcome feedback! Until next time!
> 
> Sincerely,  
> Sir Light Knight


	4. Surly Bonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “This morning, as they prepared for their journey, and waved goodbye. And slipped the surly bonds of Earth…to touch the face of God…Thank you…”—Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States—Challenger Speech, U.S. National Archives, January 28th, 1986 A.D.

**Chapter 3: Surly Bonds**

Star Date: 11/ 30/ 2500

Time: 1:10 P.M.

ETA to Departure: 50 Minutes

Location: In-route to Tokyo’s City Hall

The Parade would begin soon, and Izuku was still adjusting to what his Mentor had done with him this morning.

He’d never get this out of his head.

As it was both his seminal achievement, to be recognized, vindicated, and held up by All Might himself. It was also one of the more disgusting things he’d ever taken part in…thankfully All Might had offered him a juice box to wash it down…yuck.

He wasn’t THAT much of a mega fan, thank you very much.

Hell…today was perhaps THE defining moment of his life, if he were to choose and say what day truly made him one of the happiest boys alive whilst still achieving his dreams.

In the future he would dispute that claim with himself, but at the time it was perhaps more than apt.

Not only, had he, a wee little quirkless kid gotten the chance of a lifetime, but soon…

Soon he’d follow in the footsteps of all the great men and women who’d gone before him and finally see Unity from afar with his own eyes. Sure, he’d watched the Unity cam before. A small, crowd funded camera satellite that was at Geo-stationary orbit gently captured the majesty of his home world; the cradle of humanity. But, from what he read and listened to, nothing quite beat getting a look at it with his own eyes.

It wasn’t perhaps the most uncommon thing anymore to get your first glimpse of the world from above—after all they were a space fairing civilization. To finally get a glimpse of home from above was something of a rite of passage in their day and age. Usually, it was reserved for either the wealthy youth, when you finally shipped off world at 18 to trade, do commerce, or some other space job, or for when you got Married. Yes, a thousand or so wedding companies made it an absolute priority that the lovely couple got their honeymoon in a nice, quiet orbital cottage…high reviews mostly. So, one way or another…you were going to see your planet’s majesty.

It was dubbed by many, as both the most humbling moment, and one of the more amazing things they’d ever experienced.

For a time, he’d feared he’d have to wait, like so many others, for a day that would never come.

But today, as his mother fussed over his nice brown suit jacket (She’d wanted to give it to him, and was a part of the send off party, so she wanted him to look his best in something she’d given him), was going to be the day. They’d just hopped off the hyper train, she was strutting next to him in a gorgeous, dark green, high neck dress…he’d be lying if he didn’t think his mother looked like a model. Still she fretted over him doing his best not to get it too dusty or picking little lent bits off his shoulders.

She was clearly worried, but still excited for him.

“M-mom if we keep this up we might run a bit late. We can straighten my jacket after w-we drop off my luggage.” He couldn’t help but smile. God he loved his mom, and he was beyond happy to share this moment. Oh, he’d watched parades like this on the Holo-screen most of his young life.

But HE was getting to go.

“Alright, alright sweetie, but I can’t help but want my handsome little man to be absolutely ready for his big day. I’m so proud of you…” Her eyes grow glassy as they round the last corner, the giant City Hall complex rising ever so high above the streets around it. He could see the hustle and bustle of vendors setting up for the local kids and adults who’d want snacks, and some elderly couples already setting themselves up along the parade route.

He can’t help his own watery chuckle from coming up…today was going to be such a rough ride. If he got through this without bawling his eyes out, he’d be extremely surprised.

Their brisk pace unrelenting despite the conversation, they’re met at the gate by a security guard, dressed in the official All black combat protective gear the Military set aside for regional capitals. The burly man smiled gently at the two and held out his hand. “Excuse me you two, can I get a look at your identification? I need to ensure that you are a part of the internal festivities group before I can let you by.”

His mother snapped back to reality for a short moment and went to reach for their cards in her purse, she didn’t notice the guard tense for a moment. He did. She quickly produced their identification cards and he checked it against the database. When he noticed he was greeting a Mother and her son (who was a part of the procession) he noticeably relaxed and lightly waved the gate open. “Thank you two for your co-operation, proceed down the path, take a right once inside and then follow the signs for luggage drop.” They turned to leave, but the gentleman put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “Oh, sorry, one moment kid.”

The boy looked up bewildered, wondering what exactly the guard wanted. “Congratulations on making selections kid, the whole of Japan and Unity will be with you. Good luck.” He smiled, let go, and motioned for him to move. Still Midoriya the consummate goof he was, turned and bowed to the man. “T-thank you s-sir. A-and I hope you h-have a pleasant day for your p-post. Thank you for your service.” The gruff guard nodded in thanks and made a light shooing motion. “Go on kid! You don’t need to be late on my behalf!” He began to chuckle lightly as he watched the young lad catch up to his mother, who’d waited patiently at the door for the kid. _‘Man, what a woman…’_

_______________________________________________________

“Luggage secure, and dropped off, now I c-can fret over you…right?” His mom sheepishly opened her arms for a hug as they stood in a waiting room, one of the first families to arrive.

Like he could say no, and surely he wasn’t the only one who would do so today.

After all there was another family already taking part in goodbyes…just in case.

He noticed briefly that at the center of two adults a Red headed girl was hugging her parents tightly in the other corner. The mother’s hands were larger than normal as she cradled her daughter’s head to her chest, proud fat tears running down her face (his mother had long blessed non-run mascara and makeup) as the father, a rather normal looking gentleman, hugged them both by the sides, his head atop his daughter’s own. Izuku was sure to turn away from the intimate scene to ensure he didn’t intrude, although at this moment he wasn’t sure he wanted to say ‘goodbye’ to one of his only pillars of support.

Then he noticed how glassy eyed his mom was, and his defenses caved, begging to hold her close. Sure, he was a bit taller than her now, but she was sure to gently rest his head on the crook of her neck. They sat down together on a provided couch and sat there, his mother brushing a gentle hand through his hair as she hugged him close.

This would be the first time of his short 13 year life that he was gone from her for longer than a day.

She’d raised him alone, fed him, clothed him, told him stories, and watched slowly as her young boy grew and grew.

And it both made her so very proud.

And so very sad.

She began to cry a bit more openly now, as they both descended into their own little world quietly ensuring that…whatever was to happen today, that they got their love out of their system enough to ensure they both could live with tomorrow.

And as All Might watched in his Choker white Naval service dress suit from a balcony above the room, his heart ached for them. This week would be a trial for both parties, for the mother’s confidence and hope, and in the son’s skills and resilience. And this was just a week…man he could tell the semester aboard U.A. was gonna be a tough one by just looking at the woman. She was on the verge of devastation…of being oh so alone. He sighed…today would be a long day. Still, he brushed off his white collar and turned to head over to the room they’d set up for him in preparation for launch, he’d need a calming drink to get through it.

Because he was going to have to say goodbye too, and it hurt his soul.

_______________________________________________________

They sat there in each other’s arms for a fair while. Slowly family after family joined in on similar comforting routines. The red headed girl’s folks hadn’t left her side, and a black haired odd elbowed boy sat quietly with his mom, her long thin black hair running down his back as she leaned on his shoulder. Other families he knew trickled in, but he payed little mind to, he was a bit busy comforting himself and his own mother to really give a darn at the moment.

He didn’t even notice red eyes looking at him quizzically from afar.

_______________________________________________________

To say Katsuki was stumped was an understatement.

The nerd had not only pulled through and scored competitively with him on the entrance exam…from what the hag said.

But…Auntie looked so…different. Like her whole world had changed, and now was being thrust into yet another uncomfortable direction. And the nerd…well he’d never looked stronger nor happier. He hated to admit it, but the idiot had made insane strides in a little under a year, and it was god damn terrifying. That little pebble had turned into a boulder overnight, and he couldn’t say a damn thing about it, not when he was with his mom…and as he looked on as Auntie’s tears stained her otherwise excellent choice in dress (His dad had made that one, he idly noticed, he remembered that design…his mom had recommended it)…he…

He wasn’t sure he’d want to.

Sure, he thought the nerd was insufferable, moronic, and a bit of a pest…but seeing Auntie look so well…better put things into perspective a bit. He couldn’t even blame them for being like this, not when he was vice gripping the hag’s back while his dad gave him a shoulder hug. He’d miss the bastard, and he’d miss the hag…even if he’d never fucking say it to their face. This was in fact, his own first-time leaving terra proper, and it took a lot of balls to take your first shot into the void. It’d kill your ass mercilessly, and without fan fair. Dead in seconds if you weren’t careful, minutes if you were smart…but he had no intention of suffocating up in that black shit-stain across the cosmos. The extras around them were all ballsy as fuck to come up with him, he knew how much of a structural hazard he could be, so he’d keep quirk usage to a minimum, wash his fucking hands, and practice top notch discipline.

Hell, not fucking with the nerd had been good practice.

And if the Nerd achieving his dreams kept Auntie afloat?

Fuck…guess he’s going to have to tolerate the fucker. He noticed a skinny blond man occasionally check on the room in a white dress choker, looked high ranking to him…probably one of the officers assigned to Manticore that’s going to come up with em.

_‘Well…looks like it’s almost showtime.’_

He wasn’t wiping tears away…he was just keeping dust out of his eyes for the event.

Because fuck his weak, empty, cold ass heart for giving up on his ass right before the big shindig…

As much as he wanted to be the only one going up to show the world how great he was…at least his ass wouldn’t be in that void alone.

_________________________________________________________

Izuku was so glad he wasn’t panicking, but man did it feel good to have a nice cry with his mom. He’d gone to the bathroom (like several other attendees) to wash his face, rid himself of his red eye, pep talk for a moment and head back out. His mom had struck up a conversation with Aunt Mitsuki (who was profusely complementing her figure and dress, much to his mother’s embarrassment), and Misaru appeared to be having a pep talk with _‘Katsuki?!’_ …well you see new stuff every day huh? They’d soon be separated and prepped for departure, as the parents would be led to a room near the launch site (in a transport behind their float). They’d say their final good-byes on the pad and then board.

At least that’s what All Might had told him in his brief that morning.

So, he sat down for a moment and stared at his now callused hands…he’d put in a lot of work for this…he just really hoped the engineers knew what they were doing.

While space flight was indeed routine, accidents did happen, and they could range in scope. Until they were aboard the _Artimis_ there was no way in hell he was going to be able to relax. He gripped his hands together and rubbed them together. He was ready…or as ready as he could be. All Might’d promised they’d try to get some time to practice a bit once they reached U.A. proper and got a chance to get into one of the open spaces that could handle his power set. But, he’d probably not see him more than once. Mainly because he had other business to attend to, which Midoriya had more than understood. Heck, he’d gotten 10 months with the man, almost un-interrupted. He felt it more than enough. Still, that’s if they got the time, he knew the timetable was due to probably change.

A man with black hair walked into the room, his pony tail a bit odd, but not uncommon, his dress whites in fine condition, and the badges on his chest shined. He had a certain…weight to how he presented himself, both intimidating and extremely polite. “Families of the Assembled Japanese delegation to the U.A. Entrance examination. Welcome. Principal Nedzu appointed me to be a part of your flight to ensure the most rational movements and protocol are followed. I have been informed that the Principal is delighted to see such a strong turnout and would like to congratulate your efforts. The exam will be underway once you’ve had a day to unpack and get used to the Stronghold.” The parents hurried to get into their spots next to their children, making for an odd amalgamate for him to watch…ugh he really hoped a few of these kids would show potential.

“Now, you’ll all need to head out to the cars in a moment, once I call for the perspective students. Parents will all be expected to follow one of my associates, Lieutenant Rumi Miruko of the Kobayashi class Cruiser _Ardent_ who will be a part of our escort. This will be her trial command position to see if she is ready to achieve her marks and become Lieutenant Commander. I apologize in advance if she is a bit…brash.” He could feel her heated stare on his skull. He’d pissed off the bunny, and he didn’t give a damn. He was a quiet Captain and outranked her sorry ass…if she wanted to bring it up with him he’d gladly hear it.

Yes, he took pleasure in making the up and coming runts squirm. They needed to be top notch rational. And she was from HIS home planet, he’d be damned if she embarrassed them by being too much of a hothead when handling a parent. His ship, his rules. Plus, All Might was apparently joining up with his post soon, so he’d need to make sure everyone was in top shape to receive the blowhard Fleet Admiral.

“Thank you for your time. And good luck to you all.” Speaking of which, he saw the skinny bastard watching from a balcony like he couldn’t see him. Although…the pride he was directing into the crowd was rather curious…

He was going to have to watch his superior, wasn’t he?

Shit…so much more work for him…yaaaaaay.

____________________________________________________

Toshinori quickly made his way down to the lower floor, he’d change into his Admiral suit as soon as the procession was ready to go…but he couldn’t not say his goodbyes. He knew it’d make the boy stick out a bit, and he REALLY hoped it didn’t cause a hub-bub, but…well Inko looked splendid today. A-and this would be the last time he’d get to see her for a bit…he couldn’t help but want to say his goodbyes. Plus, he was really proud of his boy. So, he slowly inched his way into the room so as not to draw any attention. He kept an eye out for the green hair he knew so well, and he saw the boy sitting there gathering his courage as his mother held his arm in a comforting grip.

He was proud of the both of them, really. A lot of folks would and have chickened out at this stage. After all, you’re leaving the safety of your home planet. He moved to sit down next to Inko and she smiled up at him wearily…gosh she looked so tired. Poor woman…still he wanted to say his goodbyes properly.

“A-ahem, Miss Inko, I-I hope I’m not interrupting…” Oh how that smile livened up a bit…he wished she’d smile more, it suited her.

A watery chuckle fell from her lips, “W-well, n-not any more than I’d think wouldn’t be normal. T-thank you…so much.”

“I should be thanking you for helping so much with his training Ma’am, he’s a strong kid. I’m confident that he’s ready.” He smiled back gently. Her other hand gently rubbed a hand over one of his own.

Still her tone sobered a bit, a sad smile gracing her features…damn it, that hurt. “I-I guess…I guess this is goodbye then…?” Small tears pricked at her gorgeous eyes and he felt bad for ever bringing them to bear…he really wished it wasn’t so hard to get this out. “Yea…off to join Manticore, All Might requested I be a part of this mission, and the _Executor_ can’t run without me. I…wish it wasn’t so soon.” He really didn’t…it’d been refreshing to take a rest. It didn’t stop the slight blush he took on as she rubbed small circles on his left hand.

“W-well u-u-um…I-I um, I-I mean, er…I-if um…I-if I can, I uh I’d like to c-come see you again a-after this is all said and done. I, I r-really e-enjoyed working with you…and-and I um, st-still think th-the young man’s training s-should continue. I-if you’d have me…of course.” He murmured the last bit; he’d really shot himself in the foot for catching feelings…but she was such a kind woman…who wouldn’t find her to be the nicest on Unity? Plus…well the boy WOULD be his mentee after all…

The light shining in her eyes made his day all the brighter.

_‘So that’s where the young man gets it from…’_

And her blush made him want to burst into muscle form and strut like an over the moon Petty officer commander. Shit he felt young again.

“O-oh! U-u-u-u-u-u-um O-of c-co-course, I-I uh…” She giggled; she hadn’t felt like this in years…since before Hizashi. “I-if yo-you w-want I-I’m um…I-I’d be delig—ho-honored to…to work with you some more…a-a-and I um…l-like w-working with you too.” She whispered the last part and held his hand gently.

Young Midoriya had been shaken from his stupor by his mother’s lessoning grip, which he thought was odd.

He was more than mortified, Izuku felt his soul leave his body.

Because whether or not either party KNEW it…

His mom was making goo goo eyes at freaking ALL MIGHT.

And what’s worse?

He made em back.

Izuku wished he had a plasma rifle… so he could erase these pesky, pesky images from his brain.

Yes, he was happy his mom was happy.

Didn’t make it any less gross.

He didn’t even notice two pairs of red eyes watching the scene intently.

Mitsuki was doing all she could not to cackle with teasing glee. YEEESS SHE FINALLY HAD EVIDENCE! _‘Oh Inko, you dirty girl, you LIED TO MEEEE~ HeheheheheaaahahahhaaaaaaaAAAA oh I am going to have sooo much fun with making you squirm this next weeeeeek~ Oh ShIt I need a picture… PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE IS BEST!’_ She rapidly whipped out her camera (no flash for stealth) and grinned maniacally…Misaru watched with a shiver…when his wife got on a ship trip…well. It never ended without SOMETHING.

 _‘Poor Inko…’_ he mused.

His son however watched in fucking amazement. Deku’s mom…was…

But.

He.

What?

Officer.

Commander!?

WHAT?!

_‘WHY DIDN’T THIS FUCKER GIVE A SPEECH INSTEAD OF THAT TIRED ASS CAPTAIN?!’_

But more importantly, why in the F.U.C.K was this guy giving Auntie the goo goo eyes?! Who the Fuck did he think he was?

Fuckin’ All Might?!

As IF!

And she deserved no LESS than top of the line, not mister, bone skeleton man.

The fuck was this shit?!

And why hadn’t his mom told him?

He watched as she snagged a picture…ahhh.

Shit Auntie was in for it now.

He pitied her greatly.

But he was SO going to interrogate the Nerd over this. Because two things were clear. A.) His mom was making goo goo eyes with a senior officer. And B.) Well he wondered how they’d met. Not like he wanted to know or anything…but just in case the guy broke Auntie’s heart he wanted to know how best to help burry a skeleton.

He was still hunting Hizashi’s ass. And would totally make it a slight…detour mission. If he ever got the chance. After all…

No one made the people he gave a damn about cry but him, and even then he made a point to make it up to em. He still made sure Auntie got birthday presents and gifts from him to make up for the whole ‘treating her twerp like shit’ thing.

Maybe Highschool could be different.

_______________________________________________________

All Might’d departed to change, and the families were splitting up for the motorcade, the luggage was loaded on the transports, they’d been informed, and were already on the ships for departure. The parade was about to get underway. Katsuki was two seats down on the front row, and the Red headed girl was next to him on his left. He was on the far-right seat. Apparently he’d topped out for the Japan listings. S-so he got THE seat. He was last aboard, and last off, and would then lead the procession to the launch pad to meet with their families for the final goodbye. The Captain had explained to simply follow his lead and not make any ‘Illogical choices’ and they’d be fine.

Izuku for his part was, in fact, not fine.

He was sweating bullets.

Back straight, head held somewhat high, and fidgeting hands be damned, he was going to make a good impression.

 _“Even if I feel like throwing up, I need to m-make Mom proud.”_ He mumbled, which didn’t get past the attentive Red head, who was looking for a distraction, and well the green bean’d given it to her on a silver platter. Itsuka is gonna take what she can get.

“Nervous?” She asked quietly whilst bumping his shoulder. The float was slowly easing out of the entrance, so they were going to have to wave in a second or stare ahead resolutely like mister red-eyed rage over on her left a seat away.

Izuku almost JUMPED had he not buckled himself in properly. So, at best he jolted himself.

“O-oh uh…well…yea. Very actually.” _‘Holy shit I’m talking to a girl, act natural!’_

She, having no idea of his predicament, and having ZERO experience with the opposite sex of his own age group, smiled sheepishly. “W-well I can certainly understand that, to be honest this is m-my first time being this far from home. Uh…Y-your mom looked r-really pretty in her dress. W-was the blonde guy y-your dad?” She could almost see him short circuit.

But he did alright for the circumstances.

“N-no he uh, I-isn’t m-my dad, h-he um h-helped me t-train…m-more of a mentor really. A-and th-thank you, sh-she was really happy with the dress.” ‘ _Hello, hi my name’s embarrassment, how’s it going?’_

_‘OH SHIT, roll it back Kendo, Roll it back, not dad, not dad! FRICK!’_

“Oh, sorry! I just assumed!” She waved her hands between them, and he chuckled lightly, although his blush was still on strong. “D-don’t worry about it, it’s h-happened a lot lately.” It in fact had become something of a running gag. They’d be out somewhere, and someone would say something about ‘Enjoy your day with your son sir’ or ‘Hope your dad lets you relax a bit kid’ or something along those lines. Much to their collective embarrassment. Although a small voice in Izuku’s head whispered, _‘He’s really become like a dad…may as well enjoy it right?’_.

“Sooo what are you attempting at?” She smiled at the crowd as they passed out into the open courtyard and the front gates, the confetti hitting the glass dome of the float as they smiled out to the crowd. Midoriya’s being the most awkward among them, although still one of the brightest.

“Oh! I just really like h-helping people. Protecting others, keeping people safe, and bringing them smiles no matter what. To be a hero someone can really depend on, like All Might…so, N-navy and Heroics. Yourself?” His grin grew more confident as he covered his passions. He was cute she thought, as he waved at a particularly enthusiastic little kid. The kid all but jumped up and down pointing at them as Midoriya chuckled.

“Something similar, I’ve always been a bit of a big sister, so helping out others tended to come with the territory. Big hands, for big help you know?” She made her hand swell up to wave at a few younger girls who waved back. “Plus, I’ve always felt a bit of a duty to help others, it ain’t all about the money and fame ya know?”

He smiled, finally, someone who had a similar ethic. “I-I forgot to introduce myself, Izuku Midoriya.”

“Itsuka Kendo, pleasure to meet you Green.”

He chuckled at that. “Well, this is turning out a bit easier than I-I thought it would, th-thanks for the distraction Itsuka.”

She returned the gesture with a grin, “Yea, and thanks for being mine, I was so dang nervous, and I didn’t wanna bother the other seat mates, they look kinda serious ya know?” The girl next to her was quiet, and looked forward blankly, much like the blonde guy next to her. “H-hey don’t, worry about it, e-everyone deals with n-nerves differently.”

Their chatter went on reasonably after that, and for once, Midoriya felt rather included in the conversation. He felt like she was listening when he’d make a comment, and she clearly liked to make insightful input. Huh, this day kept getting better and better.

And then he saw the Might Tower Crew waving his name on little signs at the last corner. The receptionist was bouncing up and down in a green sweater, her sign waving above her head as she grinned at him. The lab guys looked to be crying on each other’s shoulders, waving little hankies his way, like the goobers they were. The various other smaller time staffers were waving their goodbyes and he choked up a bit. Itsuka watched with mirth in her eyes. Family perhaps?

“Family?” She asked as she nudged him a bit. He did know this was recorded right? Ah well, let em have his moment. Kid looked so happy. Looks like she had yet another little brother to look after, huh?

“S-something like that.” He sobbed a little, and to a degree he wasn’t lying. They’d all become something of a rag-tag family over the past few months for him. Giving him little nudges when All Might couldn’t be there, helping him with his training, or just giving a nice passing conversation on his way to All Might’s office. They’d been his first real supporters outside of his Mom and All Might himself.

He’d be forever grateful.

_______________________________________________

As they arrived on the launch pad, the large transport stood impressively over a portion of Tokyo Bay. It glistened in the Sunlight, its armor plating showing it could stop at least a couple small laser rounds or plasma pounds, but nothing battleship rated. It was an imposing machine, only superseded by the ever-larger Fleet ships. Corvettes were the closest in comparative size. Engineers bustled around the platform, jumping from station to station going over final prep. Fuel pump hoses, data-pads everywhere, and a couple dozen shipping crates were being loaded into the front port bay. Likely, that was where they would connect to the ship to deliver the cargo. And perhaps, even themselves. Izuku straightened and wiped his eyes. _‘Show time, no more time to wait...or cry’_ The transport slowed to a gentle halt as the group began to offload. Over 100 applicants from Japan alone. And he was in the top 3. Yea. Call him freaking surprised.

Aldera sure had been, although now that that part of his life was over…he couldn’t say he gave much of a darn about them anymore. He was here now. He’d make it worth his while.

As Itsuka got off the ship, he straightened his jacket, stood tall and began his descent behind her. Captain Aizawa of the _Artemis_ stood at attention at the base of the stairs, his eyes glancing over each possible recruit, with some pause on these last 4. He took a great deal of interest in the high academic performers. They tended to either be extremely rational, or not quite rational enough for his taste. But this Green kid, Izuku Midoriya oooozed ‘problem child’. And he would usually sigh, if the challenge didn’t make him excited. He hoped the kid was strong, because U.A. put heavy pressure on top performers.

As nervous as the boy looked, he put up a decently composed front. He nodded to the young man as he got to the last step and looked over the crowd. ‘ _Good, all 100, in excellent line and accounted for in a reasonable amount of time. Rational at its finest.’_ Aizawa looked over to the family transport, a few Seamen (Rank) helping the folks off the vehicle. A lady in green stood out, probably the boy’s mother. He’d seen her with All Might, and if he was honest, the man was batting out of his league. Still better than being chased by a loudmouth. He sighed, straightened and began to walk them in formation to the base of the loading bay. They had 3 minutes until departure.

He’d be damned if he’d be late.

“ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE LISTEN PLEASE!” He spoke resoundingly, although he really hated to raise his voice, events like these tended to benefit from very up-front direction. “YOU ALL HAVE 3 MINTUTES TO LIFT OFF, THEN SEVEN TO AND BACK. TELL YOUR LOVED ONE’S GOODBYE AND BE READY. PLEASE MAKE THE SAME FORMATION, AS YOUR SEATING ON THE VESSEL IS THE SAME AS THE FLOATS. I’LL BE THE LAST ONE TO BOARD TO ASSURE YOU’RE ALL ON!” He cleared his throat quietly at the end. He really needed a water.

___________________________________________________

Oh, she so wasn’t ready. Inko all but rushed to hug her son one last time. Her baby was going to be up in space, the most inhospitable frontier yet known to man. Sue her if she wanted to love on her baby. She squeezed him tight, as he returned the hug, his hair buried in her own as he squeezed. Similar things were happening all around the grounds, and she could faintly hear Present Mic, (Who usually announced most U.A. functions, her son was a hero otaku, she picked up names) commenting on the sad last goodbye for the next two weeks. He must have been aboard one of the fleet ships or newscasting online.

But her baby boy needed to fly. And she would let him. Even if it scared her half to death, because he’d all but begged for this opportunity. She heard Mitsuki actually crying a bit in the background, all but squeezing the life from her own son. They’d both probably hang out a lot the next couple weeks to take their mind off not seeing the boys. She’d need it. She heard a few folks comment on how only a minute was left, and that they needed to go. She shook her head and buried it in her son’s shoulder.

Oh, how she wished they were back to the days of him running around in an All Might Onesie, bouncing around the room, giggling as she made little rocks float to mimic meteors for him to punch away from action figures.

She wished she was back to the days of him bursting into the room as she was under the covers on the floor, saying “Oh, Save me Mini-Might!” Only for him to burst forward and tackle the covers, yelling out an “I saved you momma!”

How she wished they were back to the days of snuggles and hugs in the morning followed by All Might animated cartoons. Or him giggling out the various hero names he enjoyed, maybe even the old “Suuupaaaaaaaa” he’d say after her. Giggles, bounces, and chubby little cheeks had given way to muscle, nervous twitches, and quiet smiles. Her baby boy was growing up, and how she wished those days hadn’t come by this fast. She’d all but begged them to slow down, if only for her baby…

If only so she wouldn’t be alone.

But as she dabbed her eyes and looked up at him, she saw a gleam in his eyes that told her everything.

He had to go, because he loved her and wanted to keep her safe.

He had to go, because he loved Unity, and wanted to keep their home safe.

He had to go, so that others could have the same loving childhood he’d had, smiling, laughing, and loving.

He had to go…she knew that, she accepted that.

Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

And that didn’t mean she wasn’t oh so proud of him.

As her fountain dried up, and the students proceeded to line up one by one beside her son, she saw Katsuki brush away a stray tear. She’d have gone over to hug him too if she wasn’t so selfish as to crave a few more moments with her son.

“I…I love you son, please, stay safe. C-come home o-okay?” She looked up at him, searching his eyes to find that self-preservation. If for no one else-for nothing else, at least his mother.

His wobbly tear-filled smile lit up with pride as he gave her one last squeeze. “I l-love you too mom…I will. I-I’ll miss you…” The determination was there, he’d be back. He’d come home.

Oh, fuck she was gonna cry again.

As she moved away and watched them march up the ramp to get in the large hatch of the vessel, their colomn stopped to line the full length of the ramp, two rows deep, and her son…staring straight at her. He waved frantically as the door slowly closed…and severed her hold on her baby one last time. She wept quietly as Mitsuki rushed over to give her a hug, both women gripped with a common pain, to lose track of their babies for the first true time. She walked them both back to the safe line, the Engineers telling them to watch for debris as the engines kicked to life and began to rumble…

“Be safe Izuku…”

_____________________________________________________

On the other side of the ramp Izuku breathed deeply.

He was doing his very best not to bawl. Not like several other kids weren’t. Katsuki, for all his bravado, was looking rather verklempt. Red eyes puffy, and its easy to note that there is a reason that Bakugou has always been so volatile. He was his mother’s son after all. Still, they went about gabbing their seats, and he was lucky enough to get one up near the front. Several windows could be seen out of from here and would provide them all with an excellent view. Just what he needed to not loose himself to the gripping sadness of being away from his mother. As he sat down in his assigned seat, he noticed the Captain placing his hat on his lap next to him. Apparently he wasn’t going to get the privilege of staring out the window completely on his own. Itsuka sat down to his left, rubbing at her eyes and combing a loose hair back.

The Captain turned on his intercom, a small microphone on his collar, after giving the flight crew a look. Looked like they needed to get situated.

“ _Ladies and gentlemen, please if you are not already seated, sit down and fasten your seatbelt harnesses. It is important that you are secured in the event of an incident. This said, feel free to enjoy the view. I assume for most of you, this is your first-time off planet…take solace in the fact that you now join a veritably small percentage of our race who have taken refuge among the stars. Congrats again, and welcome aboard the transport.”_

For such a gruff guy, he seemed pretty nice…and he recognized those eyes from somewhere.

If this was the Aizawa he was thinking about, he was sitting next to yet another of his heroes…and a living legend. He stayed out of the media because he kept it that way. But the raids he HAD been apart of, tended to go beyond successful.

God he really hoped this was THE Eraserhead.

Otherwise he was about to look very stupid.

“U-um C-Captain Aizawa, sir?”

The man directed a quizzical, critical glance to him. It unnerved him a bit, but he persisted.

“Y-you wouldn’t happen to be Eraserhead…would you?”

Had he been any less a nerd, he might have laughed at the visible confusion and surprise the man sported before answering. “Yes, that is my hero name, how’d you notice? Most don’t even know OF me, let alone my rank or station.” Again, a critical eye was thrown his way.

“W-well I, I really looked up to you actually, when I was a kid. I…I was wondering if it would be too much trouble to have an Autograph?” The man seemed to deflate a little, if not a small smile adorned his visage. Clearly, he didn’t get recognized often.

“Most of my missions are classified, how’d you even know?” He chuckled, and probably knew what the boy was referring to.

“The record of your raids is available generally to the public, the details I don’t know, but there are some videos floating around the Herospace channels. Nothing too revealing, aside from the fact that you indeed Exist. And well…um…. well I might have bought an underground DVD off the market to watch one of your fights. It’s the only one that I know of that exist and I’ve made sure to keep it secure. But I’m pretty sure the dealer would have sold it to unfavorable channels had he not found a buyer on Unity. I-I hope you don’t mind.” The man didn’t batt an eye until the underground DVD was mentioned. Then he looked interested. “How recent?” Izuku responded promptly, “11 months ago, late December.” The man looked surprised. “We’ll talk later, but I can give you that signature, you deserve props for finding that material.” Izuku flipped to Aizawa’s page. And the man in question took Izuku’s pin for a small scrawled signature at the bottom right… he’d enquire about these notes later too.

They were damn good from a glance.

The pilot came onto the coms shortly after.

_“Laaaadies and Gentlemen welcome aboard the CNS Transport lines, be sure to fasten those seatbelts, clench those cheeks, and keep an eye on those windows. To your left, you’ll see Tokyo bay, and the landing pad, where your families will greet you 14 days from now, pending no problems! I would like to be the first in the fleet’s pilot group to welcome you to Manticore. I hope your trip to U.A. is smooth, and your time enjoyable. Thrusters will be kicking in T-Minus 30, we will be meeting up with the rest of the Unity transport fleet to deposit the few others from around the globe who’ve taken up this journey. You will also need to note, All Might himself has taken the pleasure to ride back up with us in another transport right next to ours on our right, it is already circling the bay, begging us to get our asses in gear.”_

The whole room grew quiet, and several of the kids looked to each other and said silent prayers. Some goofed around, others quietly panicked, and some took this chance to really get to know their neighbors. “U-um Midoriya?” Itsuka sounded really nervous.

Not that he could blame her. “Y-yes?”

She held up her right hand and looked at him a bit bashfully. “I-I know its silly but I’m pretty damn nervous. W-wanna hold hands till we’re out of orbit?” That seemed to be something several others were doing as he heard some chatter about a similar game plan.

 _‘At least I’ll die having done something lewd on my way out’_ , he mused jokingly…although the physical comfort was appreciated. “You know w-what? S-sure.”

They clasp hands, and he heard other students moving to do the same, and soon about half the ship was apparently rather prepped in the last 20 seconds.

_“T-Minus 10, moving to taxi next to the other transport.”_

_“9.”_

The rumble of the engines reached the rest of the seating area, as the ocean moved below them…they were moving.

_“8.”_

The other vessel kept pace with them, clearly trying to match their angle of assent.

_“7.”_

_“6.”_

_“5.”_

The engines seemed to hit a strong, powerful lurch, whilst not pushing them incredibly far, they were spooling up for the big one. The push to the upper atmosphere.

_“4.”_

_“3.”_

He clinched his cheeks, although he couldn’t close his eyes…he wouldn’t miss this for the world.

_“2.”_

Itsuka gripped his hand just a hair harder.

_“1.”_

_“AAAND WE HAVE IGNITION, GO, GO, GO! FOR UNITY AND HUMANITY!”_

Aizawa grumbled something about showboating…when the thrust rocked everyone but him back into their seats. The angle of assent grew considerably. Clouds rushed past their craft as the transport cracked the sound barrier only a few Kilometers above Tokyo.

For something so bulky, it sure could get up and go!

_“Altitude at 50,000 feet and rising, we’re going for broke ladies and gentlemen! HOLD ON TIGHT!”_

And then they began to push for exit velocity. His breath was stuck in his throat, his eyes glued to the windows…he could see the horizon begin to curve…and the planet’s clouds grow a hair more distant. The blue of the atmosphere showed brightly to his eyes in contrast with the black, starry sky above. Climbing, faster and faster, they breached the Thermosphere in a matter of moments, minutes feeling like seconds as his mind gets a strong adrenaline dump. He can see the Science Nexus in the distance, Gigantic, Black, Jagged and pointed metal, with lights littering its frame. They moved to a low orbital, where other similar ships met up with their own, flying in a loose formation.

_“Grav systems online, set to Unity preset. Systems…Nominal. Oxygen and breathing systems? Nominal. Trajectory check, Manticore, this is J-1 Requesting permission to move to orbital pattern Luna. We’ve some eager passengers who’re ready to be received.”_

Another voice hit the line, deep and authoritative…Endeavor it would appear was aboard one of the Titans for this flight. _“We hear you loud and clear, this is Rear Admiral Endeavor, Aboard the Imperator, you are clear for taxi from low Unity, to Luna.”_

 _“We read you loud and clear, are we clear to give em one last good view of home?”_ The pilot asked a bit out of protocol, if Aizawa’s raised eyebrow was anything to go by. _“This is Imperator, you are indeed clear for a pass…It’s a bit outside protocol, but this is their last view of home for the coming weeks…may as well be charitable. Just don’t make us wait too long, the Kobayashi escorts with the additional students from the colonies are due in system within the next two hours. I want to make boarding efficient; the Artemis is waiting to receive you. Welcome to Manticore, Unity flight.”_ Stoic yet straightforward as always Endeavor.

 _“Ladies and gentlemen we are now pulling away to Luna distance orbit, we will then slingshot to get a good velocity going and reach the Artemis. Don’t worry Captain, your ship is happy to receive you.”_ Pleased grumbles are heard to Izuku’s right.

 _“If you’d all look to our front, you’d see our illustrious Moon, pockmarked from Millions of years of bombardment and general space troubles, she is integral to life on Unity. Her defense is second to All of Unity itself, but just as important. Please note the defense array we have sprinkled around her.”_ The small orbital guns seemed primed, pointing away from the lunar entity in all directions, although they could clearly be focused in the event of an emergency…

But the Moon itself captured his eyes. Beautifully bright, and the apple of humanity’s eyes every night since their humble beginnings scavenging in the forest and savannas of antiquity. He stared in awe of its majesty, and to think, they’d only just started walking its surface 600 plus years ago when the Americans first landed upon her face.

It took his breath away.

As they rounded it, the other flights in the formation forming up on their sides and below them, they turned and turned, catching a glimpse of the Sun.

Words cannot describe its beauty for the first time he got to look at it outside Unity’s comforting atmosphere. The sheer volatility of the plasma that roped around it made for a sight to behold.

The reality that they’d achieved something remarkable hadn’t set in until they finally got a look…at home.

Buzz Aldrin said it best…it really was like a brilliant jewel in the black velvet sky. It was incomprehensibly beautiful, and had Izuku had the chance, he’d have stared starry eyed at it for days. He smiled, and someone in the back joked that “Hey, I can see my house from here!” Loosening the stiff, tense atmosphere as several laughed and chuckled, and he wont lie. As he let go of Itsukas hand for a moment a few tears streaked down his face.

_‘I wish you could see this with me mom…it really is beautiful…stay safe.’_

Aizawa put it simply, “There lay the cradle of man, a symbol of our hopes and dreams, the meager beginning to our trek across the stars. We’ve only recently gone from our cradle to walking amongst them…need I remind anyone how important she is? And to the other planets which now house human life, we owe her the most. Mother Earth gave us our flimsy chance…and we must protect it at all cost. She is one of only planets to have never been invaded. Domus est hominibus.”

Izuku latched onto every word…and as they moved away from the pale blue dot, he felt less grief at leaving home behind. He would return, because it was home. For now, he must ensure that the walls which keep her safe are sturdy, that home might be safe…

So, his mom might be safe.

So, no one would needlessly suffer at the hands of those whom seek to harm mankind simply for existing.

And that the enemies of peace would be held at bay so that which he loved could sleep soundly.

Now before him, he saw dozens of massive hulking monstrosities of metal, huge guns facing to the sky, Titans lumbering in the middle of the fleet were a sight to behold.

This was Manticore. 20 Destroyers, 15 Cruisers, 7 Battleship Carriers, and 3 Titans. _Executor, Imperator,_ and _Glory_. The pride of humanity’s defense float menacingly before them, all angles and lines. Built for practicality and to destroy. He sees several fighters launch from the York class Carriers, to circle his group. They dive in and out of formation, until they finally settle on a flying wing to protect the group, and a layer under and to their rear. Hundreds of manned craft in this space made for something of a spectacle. Aizawa again groaned, the fly boys were at it again, showing off for the new kids. He’d need to talk with his superiors about that, he understood the show, but frankly he’d prefer they not put any extra wear and tear on the darn things. Were the craft easy to replace, sure, but pilots weren’t.

Their small craft moved into a docking pattern with the _Artemis_ and everyone let out a breath they hadn’t thought they were holding.

Aizawa almost seemed happy.

Then the comms lit up.

 _“Hellooooo~ This is Commander Emi Fukukadooo call sign ‘Joke’ Aboard the CNS Artemis! Welcome to Manticore kids!”_ She all but giggled out brightly, as if she were having the time of her life…she probably was.

And Aizawa looked horrified. He scrambled, yoinking his seating equipment off and all but throwing his cap on, looking like a man possessed. His eyes flared red, as he moved to stand up near the pilots. “JOKE WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING ON MY SHIP?!”

His peace was shattering, he already had 4000 kids to account for, that was a massive task in and of itself and it REQUIRED they respect him. That wouldn’t happen if she—.

 _“*GASP* OOOOHHH~! NEDZU GOT ME A PRESENT?! He’s such a nice guy! HI FUTURE HUSBAAAAAND! WELCOME HOOOOO~OOOOOOME~! Would you like Dinner? A Bath? Or may—”_. He cut the coms line and re-routed to one of the lower posts, he had a lower level ensign he could trust in rough situations. “Knuckle Duster, what the HELL is going on up there?! Why the HELL is Joke on my god damn SHIP?!”

The guy on the other side of the coms chuckled a bit and did his best not to laugh. _“Sorry boss, The Admiral Adeptus had it in him that he wanted to screw with you a bit for the return to Stronghold. Figured it’d liven up the trek for them and raise moral. She’s an entertainer at heart, you know this better than most.”_ Oh, how he wished he didn’t.

Even if she was damn pretty.

And the only woman who didn’t make his defenses go up all the time.

….

He wasn’t going down that hole today.

“Duster, I’ve got 4000 kids to drop off and I need to get underway in conjunction with Manticore proper, can you give me a heading on any open docking ports for this first wave? We’ll be doing some maneuvers with some Kobiyashi’s later to grab the rest. 600 from this flight alone.” He grumbled; he was going to have such a headache…Nedzu owed him bigtime. His energy dipped significantly.

 _“Easy Captain, it’ll be alright, we’re all set and have their rooms prepped for everything but their luggage, which y’all have. Your shuttle is good for Hanger bay 3…you do know she’s raving on the other line to find your signal so she can bug you some more, right?”_ Knuckle Duster chuckled on his line, which made Midoriya bounce in his chair. SO, THERE WERE MORE HEROES ABOARD?!

Oh, he was so glad he packed extra notebooks!

Imagine all the signatures!

Aizawa sighed and grabbed what looked like a headset from near the pilots, “Give her the coms line for 18253396, I’ll save the kid’s ears from her onslaught until they get aboard. Thanks, we’ll circle in. This is Captain Aizawa out.”

 _“Go get em tiger. Knuckle Duster out.”_ The line cut off for everyone else, although Aizawa visibly jolted when his coms headset kicked to life.

“Joke, you do realize you were on a public call right?...Yea, I thought so, no that is not standard procedure…when did you get re-tasked?...Okay, okay, yes you are allowed at dinner, even if this is a U.A. function that you shouldn’t be invading as a Ketsubutsu Alumni.” He paled considerably

“Nedzu what?”

The whole flight felt like they were watching one of their parents get a phone call about something terrible happening. Like a train wreck in slow motion.

“I…I-I’ll see you aboard. Talk to you later Joke.” He looked defeated, so utterly defeated as he ran a hand under his cap and sat the headset down. The pilot looked genuinely concerned. “Uh boss, you alright?”

“I’m going to get zero sleep for the next three years bare minimum. How do you think I’m doing?” He looked to the man, the ol’ eyebags beginning to show. “So pretty bad huh?”

“Catastrophic, sailor make sure the squadron follows us into bay 3. You did good today. I’ll recommend you for a furlough to visit your folks after we finish this U.A. Trip.” The man’s eyes lit up like sol itself. “Gee, really boss?! Oh, Mary’s gonna be so dang happy! I’ll give her a call once we get set up for the kids to get their space legs!”

Aizawa nodded to the man, and slowly turned to the perspective students. “Welcome Aboard kids, please Erase that from your memories if possible. That officer was moved into the fleet to cover my absence and be interviewed for a possible U.A. position…much to my disapproval and without my knowledge. If you do intend to go to U.A. please note that Admiral Adeptus Nedzu, your principal, has something of a hard-on for human suffering.” He sighs, “I hope this trip goes smoothly for you all, and please know that Ms. Joke will be holding a small comedy routine somewhere on Deck 3. Go there if you want to laugh at literally anything, because she likes to use her quirk to make people laugh at even the stupidest things. I hope you all enjoy your stay aboard _Artemis_.” He bows formally, and some of his prior energy returns for the moment to make the impromptu speech.

 _“Beginning landing procedures, please everyone stay seated until clearance is given to exit the vessel._ ”

_______________________________________________________

Izuku hadn’t realized (consciously) he’d held a girl’s hand for over 30 minutes until Itsuka let go when the call to offload came.

He’d honestly be freaking out more if it weren’t for the fact he was taking in as much as he could about the gigantic Hanger bay. Hundreds of small supply ships, drop ships, and equipment bays lined the bay and interior wall, this was apparently mimicked in each bay to his knowledge. The ceiling had to be several hundreds of meters high, with scaffolding littering the area above them full of intricate pathways leading all over the vessel. He could see uniformed crew members bustling about, moving with great haste and occasionally a slacking member or two hanging over the rail to greet them.

He was also fairly overwhelmed with the sheer gallantry of the Honor guard that came out to greet them.

Decked out in a mixture of ceremonial white and combat armor, the 1st Guardsman light Human division stood before them in a full flank to both sides of a singular carpet. This appeared to be playing out for each docked vessel. He led his procession to the best of his ability, although he couldn’t stop himself from wanting to gawk at all the new things he could write about the battleships in his notebooks. He’d seen pictures, but none so detailed as to give him the full scope.

It didn’t help that a ton of the crew were slowing to catch the spectacle. His pits were probably soaked through thrice over from the pressure, after all, he was far from used to being a center of attention. The captain walked with purpose before him, although he sent a few loose glares to anyone holding cargo, which increased some of the bustle to almost pre-entrance levels. In the middle of the back line, near the center wall, stood a woman. Standing a short 5’5” and dressed in the Female variant of the Service White Choker Dress, her pants crisp and well done with her jacket in perfect shape, she looked the definition of a serious commanding officer. All the more jarring then, was the massive grin on her face, Seafoam Green hair, and (against regulation) Orange Du-rag, tied in a neat bow behind her head. She stood at attention, and although it took a moment to notice, she appeared quite loose despite the posture.

Aizawa gruffly acknowledged her with a stiff salute. She in kind, a loose, jovial jump to her own, and a giggle to follow. “Thank you for baby-sitting the ship Commander, I hope you found the crew to be adequate. You are now relieved of the post so that I may assume full command of the vessel.” She pouted but did her best to not laugh any yet, “Ehem, Captain, the crew is prepped and ready, the supplies for the voyage plus your customary reserves are secured. The Kobiyashi class ships are about to make their jumps into the hyperlane from the gateway hub in the adjacent system. ETA is approximately 1-hour, galactic standard. I look forward to serving under you.” And while she did her best not to giggle, the last line always had her thinking something…pervy, so she couldn’t help a slight one from slipping through her.

She turned to give the perspective students a once over, the less prepared among them in very loose groups whilst several of the top performers lined up in the front expectantly, with Izuku directly behind the Captain as he turned to speak with them.

“Now, everyone, please listen carefully. We have prepared diligently for your visit aboard _Artemis_ , but there are some rules. All perspective students are to limit themselves to the living and entertainment quarters. This includes the Mess, living quarters, and the movie rooms. During times of war, the movie rooms are also debriefing rooms for large leadership meetings, but in times of peace show off films which we download to a large system. Feel free to check our catalogue and have a look around. We do this for your protection, as the living quarters are closer to the interior and well-fortified. In the event something goes wrong, you are all the least likely to be affected. This said, we also expect high conduct. Many of you present wish to be officers and heroes, _you will be held to these standards_. You should have already read the code of conduct upon accepting to board. Failure to do so is to your detriment. Exemptions from the limitations are to be included during the ship tour on day 3, and upon request of an officer of significant rank. Security has been informed and will enforce as such. No booze for anyone below 21 in compliance with naval precautions, at least while aboard, same with smokes. No injuring fellow participants, no bullying, and no harassment. I don’t want to sic Nedzu on you as much as it would be entertaining. Please review the rules if they’re fuzzy and be sure to ask questions if you wish to get to know more about the ship and its crew. I’m sure everyone will be more than happy to answer reasonable questions. Welcome Aboard and thank you for your attempt. I would like to introduce you to Chief Petty Officer Hawkings, he will escort you all to the living area, where you will receive a number designated data-pad with your room information and meal pass.” A man dressed in more normal blues stepped forward, a kind smile and odd barrel chest making his presence known. He was rather tall, and a bit like a stone golem, if not for the clearly human characteristics. “Please present your data-pad to the meal staff for your meals, of which you have three standard, snacks are available in the ship shop. It will also act as your access card for while you are aboard. Showers open at 6 AM and close at 8 AM, open again at 6 PM and close at 10 PM to accommodate for the large number of perspective students aboard. These are separate from the rest of the crew to prevent…problems. Please report wrong doings to the nearest security post if needed…keep the drama to a minimum. Beyond that, and required presence events, you are free to explore accessible portions of the ship and congregate as you wish. Or don’t.”

Captain Aizawa gave a curt nod as to signal the Petty Officer to get a move on, who proceeded to wave his giant hand above him, and begin to slowly amble down the hall, several students, from all walks of Terra began to file in loosely behind him. Izuku lingered a moment, hands fidgeting to write down everything he wished he could…but he knew he needed to keep pace with the group. He was so asking permission to canvas the whole vessel if he could.

___________________________________________________________

The constant hustle and bustle of the last hour or so made for quite the spectacle. Rows upon rows of students huddled through halls. Data-pads were handed out, students met up with friends (if they had any) or made new ones, mulling about the hallways until the next batch came in. Several of the more outspoken students asked if they could be present for the docking of the next group of students, or watch the other ships come out of hyperspace. Izuku hadn’t known which to choose, so he decided he’d watch the first group unload and then he’d go up to one of the higher decks to observe ships coming out of hyperspace. If he could, of course.

Captain Aizawa had heard about these requests when the Comms officer brought them to his attention, citing they hadn’t anticipated this, following up with some calls throughout the fleet to get some opinions, and he permitted it for the day. After all, this was perhaps the majority of their first glimpses into the void. May as well get a front row seat to seeing ships come from hyperspace that were friendly for once.

So, now the chaos of almost 600 students bum rushing in two directions made for an interesting exercise within the _Artemis_. Crew and kid alike had to mull through intersections and tight spaces, normally meant for minimal traffic at worst and emergency crew movements at best. Izuku, being the careful child that he is, slowly made his way to the walkways above the docking area set aside for the other incoming vessels, the Cruiser glistening in the reflection of sol as it moved close enough to deploy small transfer ships. He couldn’t catch the name of the vessel, but he heard mumbles from passers by that it had come from the southern reaches, Pamona, and had stopped off to pick up some recruits in Inari. Ploutos would have its ship there within the hour, and apparently the ship from the Eastern reaches had a minor delay due to a weather issue on Aurgelmir but would still be arriving shortly.

Had he been an informant for some nefarious cause, they’d have doomed the ship manifest for at least two ships. He’d need to ask about troop and ship movement protocol and secrecy terms during peacetime. It might just be paranoia, but the boy had an inclination that this might be important…the latches and multiple heavy lock doors slowly spun open to accept the newest additions to their crew…another 400 from Pamona from the looks of it…abooout…100 to a craft. Must be a standardized transport design then. He’d heard the clone trooper vessels were massive by comparison, but he wanted to get a gist himself. His notebook flourished as he took notes.

Everything he could, the speed of the mechanisms, the number of fail-safes he could spot, the distinct weakness in this design’s underbelly BECAUSE of the needed blast doors. Did they have coverings? Were there additional shield supports here that he couldn’t see? How much could the redundancies protect the crew from loosing atmosphere? Were there different travel protocols in war? …What would happen if a weakened structure broke in a jump? What protocols were available for those instances? Were there any attempts to mask ships in space? What sort of detection systems were currently in service?

The doors opened, and he stopped his rapid line of inquiry to get eyes on the competition. The Pamona crowd looked to be a bit more rural in dress, far more traditional looks pockmarked their style, a somewhat cultural overhang from the early days of colonization. Still, they appeared to be in functional, yet tidy clothing, where the Inari had something of an urbanite feel to them. It was so very different from the Pamonan style that they looked to be polar opposites. Their cloths looked more modern, less intent on function than fashion. They’d likely already had time to get used to each other a bit from the way the students mulled about together after they were let loose by the Captain, whom had the commander from earlier to his right. Petty Officer Hawkings was apparently the set go to guide, as he waved them forward below.

He’d been so focused that he hadn’t noticed Itsuka behind him until she poked his shoulder.

Izuku jumped out of his skin for a moment before he recognized his impromptu friend…which was super weird for him.

He was used to people NOT wanting anything to do with him.

“Getting eyes on our competition?” She mused as she observed the new group below, about 300 of the students from Unity had decided to make themselves comfortable up here to get a decent look at the possible competition. Izuku rubbed the back of his head. “What if I told you I hadn’t thought of them that way yet?”

She looked surprised, “Care to share?” _‘This outta be good.’_

“Well, honeslty, I looked at them as both future shipmates and was just…kindof trying to get over the culture shock by looking at how different everyone is dressed. Styles and cultures range from planet to planet. Sure, English, Japanese, and Russian dominate the various cultures off world, linguistically, but there are differences in conditions which helps to form our approach. If we’re smart about it, we can make sure to minimize our differences planet by planet by taking in the differences early. Then we can just ignore some of it, while still readying up to help each other out. Sure, we all want to be at the top, but there’s no sense in me focusing on them individually. A-at least that’s what I’m building my assumptions off of.” He felt really bad at this, but he genuinely couldn’t wait to make new friends.

If they’d have him.

“You already prep your room Green?” she watched the last of this offloading group move out, the next transports being from Ganesha and Ploutos, trade worlds similar to Inari.

“Y-yea, its honestly kindof bizarre how big this place is, to have enough rooms for u-us to not bunk together more. I-I think my room-m-mate is Pamonan.” Two to a room had been quite a shock, and what’s more that they weren’t separating based off gender, so everyone was kindof hunkered together at random. It didn’t seem particularly responsible to put hormonal teens together and let them run loose. That boded terribly, although he knew the U.A. observers apparently made it abundantly clear tom-foolery would be met with a prompt rejection. (If you can’t keep it in your pants for a week, you aren’t gonna do too well on a voyage patrol).

You’d have plenty of time to get to know your peers once the semester started (and while he didn’t take this in, he knew vaguely that U.A. allowed a pretty broad relationship status exemption, unlike Ketsubutsu which had a strict no relations policy). What he and the students DIDN’T know was that the randomness was a psychological aspect to the testing period, the stress of meeting new people, of adapting to new scenarios, and not letting them blind you to your goals was made for an interesting method of prompting mental readiness. The dinner at the end would thereby help to gage energy, how mentally frazzled you are, and general readiness.

Still scared him shitless.

Because, holding a hand had already caused his brain to fry after his first realization…although she turned out to be an extremely positive and accepting friend. But if his roommate was a girl, he’d probably die.

“Well, I hope they’re nice kiddo, mine is too, did you check the name or just planet?” He hadn’t noticed the name bit. He really, really should have checked the name bit.

“W-well did you?” He knew she did, but he really didn’t want to focus on his fumble. “Ibara Shiozaki I believe, the manifest didn’t say much else, but based on the name I got lucky to hang out with another girl. N-not sure I’d be down to have a b-boy in my room yet.” She clicked away at her data-pad to show him a picture of her roommate below her room number, which was next to his. That was a relief, he was worried they’d split everyone up a bunch. At least he’d have a calming presence nearby. He moved back to sit down on a crate and look over his data-pad. He hadn’t checked for the room function, and honestly hadn’t even seen the part that would show him his roommate… actually maybe he should head back to his room to greet them. Had he not gotten on to that tangent and looked away from his data-pad to walk that way, Itsuka sharing a bit about her Martial arts training, he’d have noticed the name right below his.

**_Room 2016: Block 4-3_ **

**_Pamona, Mei prefecture_ **

**_Gender_ ** _: **F**_

**_Name:_ **

**_Ochako Uraraka_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the quote at the beginning set up the way I wanted it to. I know in a lot of stories involving space travel, the marvel of being among the stars seems lost, the sheer awe allowed diminished by the fact that it can be done and is frequently; safely aboard humanity's infallible machines. Gravity is important, and not just the force, but the weight of what they are about to embark upon is imperative. Now, to smooth over any confusion, I would like you all to remember...Nedzu is ultimately the one playing games with these poor souls. I also know this chapter covered a ton, but realistically, I really wanted to get the crew underway or at least mostly loaded up. Then we can have an intermission chapter followed by the dinner and maybe the start of the examination period. I sat on this all week because I was extremely nervous about how I wanted to structure the story going forward. Balancing the emotional structure for this is a bit harder than anticipated. I am a fan of fluff...but it needs to be earned fluff. I also tinkered with certain aspects to sort of get Izuku out of his comfort zone...because I like to make him suffer juuuust a bit. 
> 
> WE ARE OFFICIALLY OFF THE RESERVATION PEOPLE, HANG ON TO YOUR SEAT BELTS! Yikes jumping off cannon is rather intimidating...
> 
> Criticisms and suggestions are welcome!
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed.  
> Sincerely,  
> Sir Light Knight


	5. A Tale as Old as Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get the idea, S'not my foxony story, support the official release. Have you no wolves?!
> 
> “Tale as old as time, True as it can be, Barely even friends, Then…somebody bends, Un-expect-edly! …Tale as old as time, Tune as old as song, Bittersweet and strange, finding you can change, Learning you were wrooooong…Tale as old as time…song as old—as rhyme…” –Excerpts from the Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast, Song by Celine Dion and Paebo Bryson

**Chapter 4: A Tale as Old as Time**

Location: Aboard the _CNS Artemis_ : Sol System

ETA to begin voyage: 2 Hours

______________________________________________________

Alive? Check.

Cloths sorted? Check.

Picture of Ma n’ Pa? Check…she already missed them.

Mr. Cuddles? Check.

Her side of the room cleaned and what little she had with her? Check.

Roomie? MIA, but she bet that he was probably wondering the ship like lots of the others. She probably would be too soon enough.

Old Roomie? Ibara was luckily next door, so at least she had a new friend to talk to if she got nervous…

Or if she had to report a pervert.

She reaaaallly hoped he wasn’t.

Card from her hometown? Check. _‘Breath, its just another 16 days and some change, I’m doing this fer my folks. It’ll be okay…hopefully.’_

Star charts? Check.

Thirteen’s guide for space? Check…she hoped she could get an autograph…

And there she sat, in her coveralls on the edge of her bed, thrilled to finally be among the stars she so loved from the stories her parents would tell. It was so amazing, that she finally got to see Pamona from space, and if she could just get one spacewalk, her nerd journey would be fulfilled. That said, she still had a job to do. She was going to earn this honor with every fiber of her being, and NO ONE was going to stop her from blazing her ion trail through U.A. space.

Okay, maybe that principal guy could more than stop her, but still! She was determined.

That did not stop her from fangirling in every system she visited and drawing hastily mocked up maps of every system they let her get her little brown eyes on. Weightless pens be damned! She wanted to be able to identify as much of a system at a glance as she could, orbitals to stellar masses, to planets and space rock. She was soooo on it. She loved it, and had she been born early enough for the exploration age, she’d have happily signed up to be aboard a science ship and chart a course for the ages.

This day and age needed something different, so she opted for the next best thing. Rescue and Navigation, both her pride and joy. Say what you will about a country girl’s ability to navigate, but she took the time to learn everything she could. Land Nav, Star charts for three planets…she couldn’t afford more, and Galactic Nav, which had cost her a hefty sum of her ol’ allowance and at least 3 birthdays worth of cards. Speaking of which!

Did she forget that little thing on the other ship?! ….No, no, she noticed as she jolted over to her cupboard and sifted through her maps that, there it sat…her galactic map holo-disk. She almost had a heart attack for a second there…that thing had cost her an arm and a leg…figuratively. The map had been something of a rarity on Pamona simply because…well Pamona didn’t much mind the rest of the galaxy, and really had three main things to worry ‘bout. Food, Buildings for more food, and city maintenance. The occasional shipment of goods from off world, the entertainment center getting the odd new addition now and again, and maybe a high roller every other decade. Simple life, agriculture, and family were really all anyone ever needed beside the energy credits to purchase their own needs.

Pamona was known for being a quiet sector, and she hoped it’d forever stay that way. Nothing like the Northern Reaches or heaven forbid the Galactic Core sectors, which ran at risk of Xeno activity something fierce. No, nestled quietly deep in Commonwealth space, heck even far from Unity itself, until the recent Gateway system had been erected. It was a wonder then, that Unity had ever found the fertile planet in her humble opinion. Which, she always found it so strange that her little backwater planet was so integral to the whole of human space. When kids found out they fed almost the entirety of the Commonwealth they’d scoff and ask how many people that really meant. She’d just sat back in wonder at what the little things did for folks, but she’d always wonder.

When well over 2.8 trillion had been put on the table whole classrooms tended to get mighty quiet. She still remembered how several folks had initially preened at the idea that they were so important, until they were reminded that every world was important. That until recently, Apollo and Leucetius provided energy credits and electricity for the whole commonwealth. That Aurgelmir provided minerals, alloys, and consumer goods, and eventually so too would Vulcan. Ploutos, Inari, and Ganesha held up the economy as bulwarks against currency collapse, and the galactic stock exchange ran through each of them…which made them and by proxy the rest of humanity important to the galaxy. That Victoria and the Nexi helped to research newer and better processes to achieve any mission imaginable.

But Unity? It was the symbol of our home, the galactic hub of our whole civilization, home to the administrators until Voxon gained that honor, and even still greatly contributed. It was also their birthplace as a civilization and species. So, beside its obvious strategic value among other things, well, it was a soft spot for anyone to consider the hearth of mankind anything below special.

And she’d gotten to see it with ‘er own eyes.

From the Window on that Cruiser which had ferried them from home to here, she’d watched in awe as they’d jumped out of hyper space each time. While they’d only passed through a couple systems, she’d gotten enough notes to fill half a notebook. Ink covered the pages in detailed notes with little computations on the side for how things must’a flown or little drawings of what she could see. She’d not gotten to take notes when she’d seen Inari, because she’d gotten lost at viewing the world that seemed to bustle with life…billions of souls.

The same thing had happened here.

Unity had been so beautiful, even if she only had a few minutes to appreciate the planet, something primal in the back of her brain made her conscious of its gravity to her. The pale blue dot growing closer by the minute as the Cruiser joined ranks with others among the fleet. To think a generation or two back, her parent’s families had left in search of a home so alien from their own. To be the first Uraraka in the Sol system in a good two centuries made her…oddly proud.

Of course, this had been measured equally with her growing nervous. The day was soon approaching that ‘all or nothing’ was to be her battle cry. It was U.A. or bust, and if bust came…well she was sure she could get a job as a clerk on Pamona eventually. Maybe pay off the old company loans and ease their stress.

But if she could, she’d very much like to continue on among the stars.

Call it a selfish urge, but now that she was up here, could finally plot a course all her own and cruse from system to system? Oh, she’d be happy with this all the time.

As she sat down the holo-disk in an easier to reach spot, she noticed the door handle jiggle. Looks like she’d finally get a real gist of who this “Midoriya” kid is…

____________________________________________________________

He and Kendo’d promised to meet up again and hang out a bit, much to his growing joy. _‘Real friends, wow! This can’t get any better!’_ And as he opened the door to finally set up his room before the last batch of students from the far away systems of the high galactic north east would arrive. Then they’d be under way, he could go to U.A. _and make mom and All Might proud sothathecanfinallyrealizehisdreamandhelppeople,andmakemorefriendslikekendoand—_ …

His foot caught on the door seal, his toe having been just a hair too low, having been too focused on trying to come to terms with all these wonderful developments…and of course plan on how to greet his new roommate. Although, he’d forgotten to check on the name.

He began a face plant of epic proportions, careening downward at the same speed he’d planned on striding into the room.

 _“Or I’ll just die.”_ He calmly asserted to himself, as he braced for impact.

….

Hold on a second.

Why hadn’t he made ample contact with cold hard steel?

He was sure he was going to plant his face in it. Grow a Deku face garden in the kind cold alloys below…

Instead he was floating, like so many of his forefathers who had trekked the void before him. Although…he was in a ship…with grav control…and he’d tripped…d-did he just break something important? Was he okay to breath? Was he—

“OH! Sorry about that! Hope you don’t mind, I saw you going down and figured you could use a lift, a-are you alright M-midoriya?” She kicked herself for the stutter, she was just trying to be helpful and make a good impression!

He, instead of reprimanding her for quirk usage, or being weird and saying much of anything…

Well he mutely flailed around like some kind of fish for a second…which made her want to giggle, even if it wasn’t fair to him.

He did begin breathing though after realizing that NO he was not in the void, NO he had not caused some minor failure, and NO he was not going to actually die.

However, at the voice of a girl, IN HIS ROOM, and clearly set up bed space with space kit everywhere, mixed with his eyes slowly trailing up her form; from the sneakers she wore, to slowly climbing her legs…his brain supplied that it may have just been a hair better to have face planted, die, and move on.

Because instead he was in the stellar clutches of a brown-haired goddess who’s giggles did something funny to his gut, heart, and brain. She wasn’t giggling at him in the condescending way he was oh so familiar with back on Unity…but at his odd predicament. Or perhaps at the fact that he hadn’t responded…shit he had to talk to a girl…

Doomed.

Doomed…

He was doomed beyond all recognition.

Yes, he’d talked to Kendo, yes, he had in fact, held a girl’s hand. No, he was not ready for this. But he’d be damned if he didn’t try his best anyway.

“Midoriya Izuku I’m, you meet to nice its um ah…” _‘SHIT!’_

“Nice to meet you! I’m Uraraka Ochako, OH! Here let me help right you…you got a bit spun ‘round there.” _‘Roll with it.’_

Her hands slowly grabbed ahold of his shoulders and spun him into a standing position (inside the door thankfully) and her fingers tapped together. A quiet “Release.” And he felt the pull of Gravity once more. “A-ah um, th-thank yo-you Uraraka, s-sorry about that. U-um I’m still trying to get used to th-the ship.” His blush in full strength at both his own embarrassment and odd heart rate that seemed higher than his usual nervousness…questions for later. Now? Now he had to survive a conversation.

_Frrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick._

Still he stood a little straighter…she seemed pretty—nice! Nice! Yes.

That.

“Welcome to home away from home, Roomie!” _‘Act natural Ochako, he’s a boy sure, but he seems super nervous.’_

He smiled his wobbly, nervous little smile and bowed slightly in respect, “Th-thank you f-for the help, I-I’m sorry I uh m-made such an entrance. S-so that b-blank side of the room sh-should be mine right?” She nodded as he walked by, his shaky gate making for a somewhat goofy sight for her, _‘Kinda cute—wha…’_ Ochako’s ears turn red at the thought, although Izuku seemed none the wiser to his roommate’s own awkward stance. In fact, before they could get much else underway, a knock came at the door.

Itsuka popped her head in with a smile, “Hey Green, you totally have to meet my roommate! She’s really n-iiiice”, her sentence trailed at noticing that Izuku was in fact, NOT the only person present in the room, but a bubbly brunette with what looked like the cutest dimples she’d seen in a while, with a natural pink flush. “OH, Hi! Its nice to meet you, I’m Itsuka Kendo, one of the others who came up on Unity flight. I met your roommate earlier today.” She watched him quietly muttering away as he unpacked a little, she slowly looked back over to the now slightly twitchy brunette… “What ah…what happened?”

Uraraka slightly mellowed and explained how he’d tripped, and she’d used her quirk to save him from falling. Slight giggles filled the room as the two started to talk, and Izuku mused, that he much liked the atmosphere. Calm, despite his mess up. Positive, despite their…odd circumstance. And…well homie, like he was still on Unity, listening to his mom talk about meeting one of her old friends or something she found interesting.

It was nice…

Maybe having a girl as a roommate would be just fine.

_________________________________________________________

…Man, this boy was twitchy. He fidgeted and mumbled like he was scared she was gonna hurt em or something.

He seemed nice enough though. As she saw more and more All Merch coming out of his bag, she couldn’t help but wonder about some of the collector value, because she hadn’t seen most of these at the local stores on Pamona. Then there were his notebooks, he had a few lined up and they had titles like ‘ _Hero notes for the future’_ and _‘Notes on Space Operations: Craft and traversal’_.

She wasn’t peaking over his shoulder to look at em…nope…

Okay maybe just a bit.

And while she noticed his personal bubble was where coherent speech tended to stop from one accidental hop into his personal space to look at something, she generally liked how he thought. He seemed so passionate about heroism, protecting others, making sure everyone felt safe and happy that it was honestly a bit more wholesome than her own motives…ya know considering how she wanted to help pay her parents way onto a nice vacation to Unity or a paradise world. Pay their bills, make _THEM_ comfy and safe…not necessarily everyone had registered in her dream.

She honestly felt a little selfish.

But then there was that earnest love of space they shared…

Which, pardon her language, was FUCKING AWESOME!

“O-OH my gosh is that a model 3852 Galactic map with small planetoid objects and Asteroids factored in?! How did you get it?! Can-can I have a l-look?” He all but blossomed with energy at spotting it on her bed. He seemed to forget himself as he stood up to get a closer look at it, unwittingly getting within his personal bubble to talk about it. “This is one of the newer models too! It should have all the recent surveys, data from across the galaxy, and info on each system if you know the controls! Wow! And it’s in color too right?!”

Like you could stop her from talkin’ space stuff?

“Yea! It’s a pretty good map too, got all the hyper lanes and factors in the Gateways too. It uh, was in a nice store on Pamona when I got the first chance to walk around the capital Maroona. It wasn’t cheap, but the clerk tol’ me it was bran’ new. One sec, let me put it in the floor so we’ve got it stable and even so we can better use the holo-controls.” She giggled with a bounce in her step as Itsuka watched these two nerd out from her perch on Izuku’s desk. They practically oozed space gibberish, talking about the survey differences from map to map, and brushing by each other to point out places they knew from school, or Izuku referring to this Uraraka girl for more information on something he wasn’t familiar with. She wanted to laugh like crazy.

Because this doofball, who’d sweat buckets at holding a hand, and talking to a girl only minutes ago; was now having a full-on intellectual seminar with Mochi cheeks on positioning and movement using the maps as note trading fodder.

And it was ADORABLE!

Although, as they got into places that sounded like _may need to know_ territory, she ducked over to her own room to grab a notebook and pens. Ibara, a vine haired girl, with a penchant for Ancient Christian Orthodoxy, looked up from her book (Bible) as the redhead rushed in. “In a hurry Miss Kendo? We shouldn’t have anything pressing to do at the moment…wait did I miss dinner?!” She looked over to the clock…no they hadn’t even been there a full hour yet. And her recently acquainted room-mate looked to be grabbing study materials…she hadn’t pegged her as the studying type.

More like dashing Martial Artist with the best figure she’d see…….

 _‘Lord give me strength to surmount my temptations, and may I know no villainy…forgive me for what I have done, to lust after another…’_ she shot to prayer in a moment mentally as the redhead spoke up.

“Oh! Our neighbors are giving eachother a veritable Seminar on space tactics, strategy, and other nerdy stuff…said some things that rung up as ‘might be important’ so I’mma grab a couple pens and a notebook! Wanna come? You said you bunked with Tea girl before right?”

Ibara distinctly remembered thighs and shot up from her bed, although she did her best to calm her inner turmoil and note that said thighs were not hers to partake in.

She wasn’t a pervert.

Not at all.

She was a good person.

Yep.

…Plus, she could go over her notes on medical while these combat types took to studying maneuver and whatnot.

_________________________________________________

Ibara had fit right in as Izuku had nerd-ed out about her hair, and proceeded to pull her into the conversation occasionally, more-so when the little group talked heroics…

It was rather nice, actually.

Izuku for his part was doing swimmingly, as he zoomed the map down to a manageable size so that four people could look at it from a decent angle from both sides of the room.

Ignoring the fact there were now THREE women in the same room as him and preferring to talk about the basics of defensive warfare. Itsuka had warned her that her male neighbor was a bit shy, and very, very conscious around women, so she’d been prepared for him to be a nervous reck…

She hadn’t expected the reincarnation of King David.

“Chokepoints are fantastic for funneling resources and forcing the enemy into otherwise unfavorable confrontations. Warp travel might make trips that would take weeks only take a day or two, but it’s a bit risky. For instance, in the most recent conflict with the Index, one of their fleets jumped into Commonwealth space to harass our systems near their space. It was one of the few times their fleets actually partook in a maneuver like that, and they’d jumped into a system where we had a small fortified star-port…right here actually.” Izuku pointed to a rather large system on the map, with two stars close to one another. “As you can see this system is several AU larger than an average system, and because of that and being unable to move in hyperspace due to the gravity well, forced them into open combat within allied space. It was also one of our ONLY lines into Northern Index space lanes without having to risk our own jumps.”

Ochako quirked an eyebrow at that. “Wouldn’t that be a pretty good move, considering how far Manticore was buried into their space?” She was looking at the map broadly, and trying to figure out what the problem was, as on the surface it seemed to gum up the works considerably.

“True, however, I would like to note, Maticore wouldn’t even be needed to take them down at that point in time, and we’re all familiar with post jump performance drop yes?” Izuku looked around for a second, and to his surprise Ibara was the first to catch on. “They’re fighting at half strength with Cerberus in range to reach them within two hundred days…”

Itsuka protested only a little, “Aren’t they still really powerful though, that was one of their mainstay fleets at the end of the Fifth war. Wouldn’t they outmatch Cerberus?” Which caused Izuku to grin a little, “Normally yes, that fleet would have demolished Cerberus, but the problem inlay in that due to fighting at half strength, they lost out on their advantage in favor of taking a system. Bating Cerberus into a fight by slowly encroaching would have ended better, as they would have had time to recover their fire control and get into a more favorable position. Instead, they’re mid siege when our forces pop up, fresh, bright eyed, and with enough firepower to level a small star.” Itsuka smacked her forehead, “Right, right, half strength, I jumped the gun there.”

Ochako for her part could see a few things easily likely to unfold. “Since they’re mid siege, their ships are out of position to oppose an incoming fleet, and probably aren’t pointing their big guns in the right direction…traversal would take time, and I don’t see any good planetoids to hide behind to avoid getting blown to smithereens. Sure, you could get behind one of the stars and hope to catch em by surprise, but since the sensory array is up, we’d know their position and flank accordingly…yea this is an ambush waiting to happen.” She might be just a navigations gal, but she knew a sticky barrel when she saw one.

Ibara looked on with a bit of surprise…she’d rarely ever been able to pay attention to all the technical tacticool talk in Middle School; it’d all bored her immensely. But now, here she was, taking notes next to Itsuka as she watched her new acquaintances gush over strategies, logistics, and even medical…Ochako had already gushed with her on basic medical during their brief stay aboard their Cruiser trip from Pamona to Unity.

What Itsuka had failed to inform Ibara on, had been rather simple, that Izuku Midoriya was rather cute.

Not cute like a harmless bunny, although he had a flavor of that. Not cute as in physically appealing, although he had flavors of that too, freckles and slight muscle tone did well for him.

No he was just so very Innocent, pure, nice, polite, and endearing that she was having a quiet bi panic in the back of her mind. _‘Bad Ibara, do NOT do this again, you have finally purged the sin of lusting after Miss Uraraka and Miss Kendo, you should NOT be focused on how the Midoriya boy’s eyes light up, or how he bounces with a bit of pep when he talks about heroes, or how he doesn’t seem to mind all the evil in the universe…and expects the best of people.’_

Oh no. She had some things to sort. But for now, she noticed how he’d quietly, almost demurely defer to others when conversations outside his comfort zone started to kick up. Itsuka talked about a few of the friends she’d left behind on Unity, and how much she was probably going to miss them for the next couple weeks, Uraraka would comment about some of her own, and had angled it so that Ibara and Izuku could pipe in if they wanted. She’d stated how she’d miss the monastery, her mother, and her sisters, but that she was looking forward to going out into the world and trying new things. Izuku had begun to shrink into himself, quietly avoiding the topic of _Friends_ , instead seeking to comment on how nice it had been to meet Itsuka and by proxy both Uraraka, and to her surprise, herself, so that their journey might be a bit more comfortable. “I-I’m honestly a bit s-surprised, I-I expected th-this to be m-much more awkward…i-if I’m being brutally honest here. I-I hope I c-can be a decent r-roommate, l-let me know if any of you need anything.”

He’d made no mention of friends from Earth. She and Miss Uraraka had both side eyed to Itsuka at that moment, promising of a coming conference on the matter.

This poor boy looked scared he would offend them at a flinch. Let alone just talking to them. And while it was pretty cute to _Her_ , she figured her sensibilities might be a bit skewed.

Ochako had smiled at his admission though. “Thanks! I’ll miss having Ibara as a roomie, but so far you seem pretty nice Midoriya, don’t worry, this has been super fun so far! Honestly, I’ll admit I was worried I might wind up rooming with a pervert…” She scratched the back of her head sheepishly as he balked a little. “I-I-I-I-I W-would n-n-never! Um n-not t-th-that you g-girls a-aren’t p-pretty…but that wouldn’t be v-very heroic of me…and a bit rude if I’m honest.”

________________________________________________________

A small ball haired purple headed boy flinched somewhere aboard a Cruiser in route to the _Artemis_ , he wanted to call it his prude sense…but this felt like it could kick his Ass…

He hoped he never crossed whoever that was.

_________________________________________________________

Itsuka’s face turned teasing as her hand slightly enlarged to cover the bottom of her slight smirk, “But didn’t you mutter something about holding hands on our flight up?” A glint of mischief in her eyes.

He turned red like one of those giant stars, his face equally as warm.

_‘Meeep’_

“I-I-I um, you see…ah, I uh…but-but, well er—wait! D-didn’t y-you say you were nervous?” _‘Saved it!’_

Itsuka’s smile turned innocent. “But to do something so lewd before marriage? Ibara isn’t that just the dirtiest thing around?”

“Do not pull me into thy antics, to probe such innocence for such depravity would be improper…besides it was his first jump off planet, sue him for having a moment of weakness.” She had to stifle a giggle of her own at how his ears appeared to steam and mellow at her very slight defense…although she’d left him with plenty of hot water.

“To think he might not be so innocent after all? Hm, well, just so long as he doesn’t push his luck, I don’t see any problems rooming with him…” Miss Uraraka’s thumbs twiddled as she sat there whistling along to the fun teasing session.

“—a…ah um, n-not fair…” He grumbled as his posture slumped in good humor. Ah throw him a bone. “To think Itsuka willing to take advantage of such a weakness though…I didn’t take you for a seductress Roommate.”

Ochako broke out into a fit of giggles, while Midoriya looked like a red-hot broken owl…he’d just been talking tactics and was now knee deep in a friendly teasing circle, that wasn’t malicious or mean. That didn’t make him feel useless or too bad…just friendly joking.

Itsuka for her part, matched her hair. “IBARA!” She said slightly mortified…oh how deliciously that had backfired for her…

Ibara meant ridiculously, comically, she didn’t look cute red as a strawberry fresh from a Pamonan vineyard…

Ibara herself caught in a muse… _’Ah Frick’_.

____________________________________________________

Midoriya was having the time of his life.

Sure, he wasn’t what one would call a ‘hyper social person’, but he did like to think, learn, and yearned for companionship, comradery…dare he even say friendship. He loved to think of all the good he could do for others. Even if it was just to help them know something, or maybe even make their day a little easier.

_~~That he didn’t feel useless, unwanted…a Deku.~~ _

Even then, he enjoyed the feeling that he could actually relate to those around him for once. Sure, they teased, but this was teasing in good fun. He hadn’t recognized it at first, but it seemed like something friends did from the slice of life manga he’d occasionally browse.

He wasn’t even as uncomfortable that they were _Girls_ willing to talk to _HIM_ and associate with him. He’d even intended on ducking out to grab dinner after they finished hanging out, because SURELY they wouldn’t want to hang around him for longer than they needed.

Instead here he sat. At a small dining table in the mess next to his roommate, and new ~~friends~~ associates (who was he kidding, he desperately wanted them to be his friends). As they passed around jokes and food. He even noticed the stylistic differences in food between the planets, which shared some minor consistencies, were even just a little different. The warm smell of pork hit his nose as he slowly picked apart the fried pork cutlets for his Katsudon. It was apparently one of the few traditional human dishes from Unity selected for general production. Itsuka had a burger dripping with a bit of barbeque (something American he noted) and Uraraka was staring star eyed at the plate of Mochi she had accumulated for part of her meal. Ibara looked bemused as she picked at her salad. “You know, the faster you eat your Ramen, Miss Uraraka, the faster that Mochi might be yours.”

Uraraka wiped some drool as she picked up her kebab, munching on the meat as she gave Ibara a look. “Don’t you dare touch it.”

“But what if I wanted a piece, isn’t this a desert to share?”

“My mochi!”

“Bu—”

“Mine!”

“What if your roommate asked for it?”

“He’d get ONE because someone has been trying to play keep away, and I’m enjoying it while I can have it!”

Itsuka giggled as the small bickering beside her kept going at a furious pace, clearly this was something of a routine that the two had made on their trip so far. Izuku glanced between them and looked to Itsuka with a questioning look. “Girls, play nice, you’re scaring Green.”

“N-n-no! I uh…well I just wanted to know what the fuss was about, y-yea it’s a nice sweet but—” Uraraka looked scandalized, her eyes zooming on to Midoriya with a small aura beginning to leak from her presence. “Mochi is the BEST thing in the Universe, you take that back!” He looks down at his Katsudon and then at the mochi, and then back at the Katsudon. “I-I m-must choose to disagree. Katsudon is the best, and I will not budge on it.” He looked at her seriously, his hand protectively sliding to make it hard to take his sweet, sweet pork from him.

She looked aghast, then slid a hand over to slap away one of Ibara’s vines from snagging a mochi. “Do you dare challenge my Mochi, Midoriya…” He gave a wobbly confident smile, and nodded, “Bring it on!” To which she looked at his Katsudon and then at her Mochi…the hardest choices demanding the strongest wills.

“Try the Green Tea mochi and I’ll try this ‘Katsudon’ you speak of, and we can put our money where our mouths are, got it?” Serious, eyes locked and making him just a hair uncomfortable. Brown, kind but strong orbs, demanding his compliance, shining with a degree of curiosity and kindness that he thought more alien than anything he’d dreamed for the last 13 years of his existence. His mouth felt suddenly dry, very dry, as if he’d forgotten his drink years ago. His pulse grew erratic, his nerves on heightened alert, but not for a threat. He felt oddly comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Sweat beads running down the back of his skull, this, this experience was new.

And it was exhilarating.

“F-fair, but only a bite, I-I d-don’t want to lose all my K-Katsudon when you like it…” his wobbly smile barely holding as he tried his best to hold eye contact.

She held out her hand, mock handshake position. “Then we have a deal, I shall defeat this Katsudon and you shall know the power of MOCHI!” A grin split her face as he couldn’t help but chuckle in good humor. “Y-your on.” And he shook her hand.

It was so soft. Kind. Gentle but firm. Her grip said many things…you could tell so much from hands. And as he let go and set aside a small sliver of Katsudon meat and a chunk of rice. Setting it on her entre plate, and she set aside a Mochi to sit on the rim of his plate. She looked to Kendo and Ibara, who appeared on the brink of rolling out of her chair laughing and humored respectively. “Will you both act as witness? I want it to be clear Mochi is superior to this _Katsudon_.” Her eyes narrowed at the pork and rice.

Kendo wheezed out a yes, as Ibara nodded. Her contemplative glance hitting Midoriya oddly, as she quirked an eyebrow. _‘I pray he never finds out the cultural significance of sharing food to a Pamonan.’_ Lest she howl with laughter at what would amount to a catatonic young man passing to the next life. She was sure it would destroy him. But the fact that Ochako had done so, not only without thinking, but CLEARLY in the presence of others was something to marvel. Either she had forgotten her culture’s mores over the ecstasy of Mochi or was bolder than she assumed.

She assumed the prior.

Midoriya slowly bit into the Mochi, smiling at the flavor. It was a fairly comfortable flavor, like something his mother would have approved of when she wanted to liven up his day. Cool, relaxing, and very clearly a strong green tea flavor filled his senses. Mochi was mochi, he’d had it before, but wanted to make it clear that among favorites, Katsudon was king…at least to him. It was there for him on bad days when his motivation slipped, and he just couldn’t bring himself to stand up and smile at the world again. It was there for him, when his dad quit coming home and his mother brought him and her up by their bootstraps to soldier on…like always. It was there for him, the day after he’d been confirmed quirkless, cast out to the bottom of society like a forgotten rag. It was one of the foods which strongly reminded him of his mother, her comfort, hugs, and a quiet nights watching All Might crash through the Quarrelsome Quakers; a particularly spry passive aggressive villain team which had cropped up on Vulcan some years back…or some other villain of the week.

Point is it was a taste of home and comfort, should the chefs here not make it to his liking, he’d fight his way back to the kitchen and do it himself. Just to prove a point.

He was naturally, not used to this level of honed (“Gotta Happen”) sort of determination about _Food_ of all things…but it was special. He picked up a sliver and bit into the pork…hmm a hair dry and missing some of that special something his mom could pull from the either, but he was sure it would do.

Uraraka bit into her small sliver of demoted heaven, and her eyes widened. She shook her head, pounded the table for a moment…swallowed. And looked at the table with a shadow over her face. The other two girls looked on with fascination…this was not quite what they expected from her on such a thing. The tea girl looked up with a slight frown, bitter he’d later find out, a rare thing on her face. She puffed out a grumble and mumbled something, to which Ibara cupped her ear as a means of goading it out of her.

“Its better than the Katsudon on Pamona…” a small flush crashed over her face, “But my p-point stands…mochi is better!” Although, it was a slightly weaker declaration. Midoriya made a bewildered look. “If you call this good, I’d say my mom’s would knock this out of the water, this stuff is just a hair off what you’d really want out of a Katsudon.” His calculated look flitted to her face, taking in the surprise with hidden glee…he was winning, and for the first time ever, he felt a thrill for it run down his spine. “I’d almost offer to show you how to make it better, but I don’t feel like fighting the cooks today, we just got aboard…I-I don’t wanna make a scene.” His polite nature overloads his new boldness…it felt weird to even have that happen to him.

But Katsudon was IMPORTANT dang it. And he would scramble for the opportunity to prove its greatness.

He had no idea why it should be to prove such to this girl…after all he didn’t know for how long he’d even know her.

She erupts with a light giggle, and he felt a degree of something over his nerves…it made him want to run. To do calisthenics until his blood ran hotter than the sun, or to lift something, anything to get the goosebumps to go away. She seemed so nice, and it was so foreign to find himself among such company outside his mother and All Might. He…didn’t know how to feel about that.

“Then it must be som’ darn good Katsudon. I’d ask for the recipe if you had it on you.”

He proceeded to recite it from memory on the spot.

Everyone looked at him funny for a moment, Ibara just seemed to cock her head with a hand on her cheek. Itsuka sat with her hand on her chin and her eyes wide listening to how exact the recipe was for just off the top of his head. It felt like some kind of culinary course audio book for a bit in her opinion. Uraraka just had her head tilted as she went into price mode, measuring exactly how much each would cost…not as much as she had feared actually. ‘ _With the right sales and a few coupons that sounds surprisingly cheap…huh.’_

Izuku stopped as he finished his impromptu lecture on his favorite dish…”U-um well, I-I watch her cook it a lot, so it sort of just…got to be second nature to know the ingredients and prep.” He felt a slight blush run up his cheeks… _’Gosh, I’m such a nerd. Nowthey’llthinkI’mweirdandnotwanttotalktomeanymoreandshe’llasktochangerooms.’_

“That makes sense, I picked up on mom’s Mochi list pretty quick.” Uraraka offhandedly mentions as the group moves on to their own favorite dishes.

Why didn’t it feel weird?

Why did they just _accept_ his eccentricities?

Why did he feel…valued?

He had to fight the urge to cry…that would CERTAINLY show something was amiss. It just felt so surreal as he would occasionally chip in as he nibbled on the slightly sub-par (compared to his mom’s) katsudon and the mochi on the side. His fingers would twitch to scribble at the odd quirk mentioned, and the conversation kept going from there. Heroes, dreams, what got them to sign up, their testing prior to this and how they felt. Everything.

Just like the other kids.

And for the first time since his early childhood.

Since he was at the meager age of 4 that he felt anywhere near to being just some normal boy.

It felt nice, as he remembered the similar feeling of belonging from their last conversation back in his and Urakaka’s room. The natural feeling was sublime.

If it could stay like this forever…he’d bless the ground his mentor walked on for the rest of his days. For this freedom, he owed to those whom lifted him up. His mother, All Might, and now these three girls.

He’d pray to never again lose such a bastion of hope.

___________________________________________________

The last ship scheduled to arrive was late, by a few minutes, which conveniently allowed for most of the prospective students to watch the Cruiser pop out of hyperspace. The blue swirling pool made for an interesting indent in space itself. A flash of bright blue light, and there it sailed, or floated rather. From the furthest reaches of the Kelnik colony system, it had tried its best to make it back rapidly with the students it possessed, but it had needed to take a longer route, loading up right before taking a mad dash jumpdrive to the system nearest the northern hold just to get close enough to make it in time to load through the Gateway system behind the fortification.

Midoriya would admit a light jealousy at getting to see such a majestic fortification so early in their lives. He wasn’t as jealous of their ride, since a jump usually left new fliers rather queasy. He pitied the souls who hadn’t known to wait to eat until AFTER the jump. And for the poor janitorial servitors. His hands rung together a bit as he watched it come in, slowly creeping at half the speed of an average ship, still clearly suffering from the travel lag. He wanted to write that down when he got back to his cabin room. He’d need to remember as much about what a hyperlane jump as he could if he wanted to be a useful spotter in his early career. The girls watched mesmerized as it came closer, “This is what it looked like when we came in? Wow, that’s kindof cool. I can’t WAIT until we get the chance to see how Midoriya reacts to gateway and hyperlane space…” _‘Itsuka you’re turning out to be more of a teasing big sister than I’d hoped.’_ He grumbled in his conscience.

“I’m s-sure I’ll b-be fine.”

He wasn’t pouting.

He was withstanding critical words.

Yes, he was fine.

No, he wasn’t blushing.

“Oh! That reminds me, we should all go ahead and get ready, showering before the jump would make sense, that way once we’re in hyper for a bit, we can rest up before ‘Tomorrow’.”

_‘A shit…’_

He just realized he was sharing a room again.

With a girl.

Alone.

_‘All Might, give me strength.’_

____________________________________________________

Location: _CNS Executor_

All Might felt his nose itch, as he slid into his private cabin. He was given the wonderful opportunity to room alone, due to both his status as Fleet Admiral and his condition. He couldn’t help it, now that he was finally away from the prying eyes of his crew…he sneezed, poofing out of his buff state.

That was a first.

_‘Huh. Weird.’_

_____________________________________________________

Location: ???????????

“AAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” The small being began to cackle relentlessly, oh how he LOVED the access he got for this event. He really liked to squeeze every little challenge into this week that he could. He tested them for everything he could, moral quandaries, unfamiliar situations, tests of spirit, of mind, of body, the whole gambit. It was something of an event for him, and to be perfectly honest it was just a bit better than the sports festival.

Besides, when else did he get to pull an annual massive social experiment for his own entertainment AND to find proper students for his heroics institution?

Nedzu grinned as his teacup rattled in his hand. The cameras zoomed in on the Pamona/Unity joint groups he had set up, and to be honest he’d done this and a few of the other male/female groups at a slight randomization.

The Midoriya case was just a bit different.

All Might had informed him of his very ~~infuriating~~ unfortunate upbringing, and of the obvious social issues which might occur for the boy. He’d profiled 99.9 percent of the boarding groups to be safe and had figured putting him next to Miss Itsuka would be a solid option to calm his nerves a bit considering her massive protective instincts and sibling intuition from her aptitude testing. But he was of course, both a charitable and…well a bit of a sadist if he’s honest, so he decided, if he was uncomfortable around girls…how’s about some exposure therapy?

And it was simply _Hilarious_ to him.

Every time he would flit back to their screens he would find a variety of wonderful little developments. The boy had given a tactical breakdown of a variety of subjects in that little impromptu lecture, he’d shared a bit…he noticed his social shields flare to life and now had something of a baseline for uncomfortable conversation, but then there had been that shine when he spoke of heroics…and it all went away. The awkward boy became a passionate young hero for but moments at a time…but he could see the promise All Might did.

But then, just as fast as he would attain said bravery, it would shrink away into a nervous bundle of quietly rebuilding dreams.

_‘I’m going to have to do something about that blasted discrimination. I CANNOT lose such powerful students to the hopelessness of circumstance. Yes…note to self, contact my mole in the government to make some more stringent…changes.’_

Aizawa had messaged him about the peculiar student as well, and had noted that he had, not only been recognized within minutes of the announcement, but had a rather pleasant exchange with him aboard their transport to the _CNS Artemis_. Aizawa, _NEVER_ , made commentary on random students aboard his transports, or his ship. Let alone for such an occasion.

He now lightly regretted dropping his little _Joke_ bomb on him…

Almost.

Oh, not at all really, but she was a highly strong pick for assisting heroics and navigation training, so he was happy to have her in for an interview…Ketsubutsu waisted her talent so woefully.

He much preferred the opportunity to kill two leviathans with one proton torpedo.

Embarrass the shit out of Aizawa, and obtain a strong teacher who, with a bit of molding could be quite formidable herself.

Maybe two, three, tea sessions should have her properly up to date on teaching theory. He grinned back at the screen as the realization and cold, cold reality gripped at the young boy. So, focused on his little test of food, heroics, and space warfare had he been that he’d forgotten his little predicament. Sharing boarding with a person of the opposite sex. Which Toshinori had commented to him as being, next to nothing to absolutely abysmal. Thus, he must fix it.

Thereby this little test wrapped in exposure therapy had been born.

He was such an expressive boy and watching as he sat there watching that Cruiser with blank eyes and a twitching hand made for some fine entertainment. He pressed record for that camera, and had it pull back two minutes to save that little clip.

He had a nice little compilation going, and he was _SO_ going to message this one over to Midnight for her viewing pleasure. She wasn’t so much of a pervert when it came to students when she was really taking things seriously. After all she was his choice for vice principal.

Much like him however, she too enjoyed the silent suffering of humanity occasionally, and especially the twitchy boys he’d find here or there in his line of work. Most didn’t have this level of heroic spirit however, and Nedzu planned to use this as a small lesson for his protégé principal in training. Midoriya showed all the hallmarks of prior bullying, some social eccentricities, and a fear of girls all too common in young boys of his prior status. If he wanted to slowly integrate them more into the fold and avoid the same old problems, he would need to show what was good and acceptable to look for in a case such as this, and what was negative to build upon or work out a problem or two.

Plus, she’d cackle almost just as much as he was at this boy’s heavy sweating and poor breathing at the realization that he was rooming with a girl, far before being ready for it, and far from being in a comfortable place.

Oh, he knew he could be a right bastard, but you had to admit.

He was a damn good principal.

“Ohohohhoooo this is going to be an _EXCELLENT_ year my dear mice…ohhh such a fun little time. Now, soon we shall see if your bite is as entertaining as your squeak.” He pressed send.

And heard a gasp, followed by a cackle not minutes later.

Yes, what a fun few years on the docket now…

_‘God I love my job.’_

__________________________________________________

Izuku took a deep breath as he sat among the crowd on the higher deck, All Pajamas (trademark) from his feet to his torso, ready for bed and nervous for it.

Subdued of course, by the coming first for his life.

Hyperspace.

The giant ship had lurched to life while he’d been in the shower, and begun its taxi around Sol. It was a very old slingshot maneuver that had been common in the older days of space travel. More than likely, Captain Aizawa’s crew wanted to showboat a little for both Unity and their new charges.

Really put the speed on for the jump. Others from the various worlds sat relaxed as they had grown used to the spectacle for their own respective jumps across human space. But for the unity kids, Izuku and Itsuka among them…this was it. Their first movements across the plains of reality, to be away from home.

To finally see worlds all too distant, foreign, and removed from common life. For now, they left the security of the pale blue dot, and began their baby-steps into a Galaxy all too uncaring of their existence. And yet, wonderous in its splendor. The Captain sat in his chair as the Titans lumbered at the _CNS Artemis_ ’s sides, Corvettes, Cruisers and destroyers in close formation making for a spectacle of flying Titanium and Steel. His hand drifted to the intercom as his headset keyed in. Izuku sat at attention in one of the thousands of jump chairs prepared for this pivotal flight. Even if it wasn’t important to him, these kids were doing something special. Few have known the splendor of Galactic travel, statistically, and he wanted them to remember this moment.

Joke sat down next to his own chair, as the navigator fed him distance, movement, and other data… _’Good a stable heading…keep up the good work folks.’_ He sighs a little and fixes his eyes on the void. His navigator calls out on coms for all to hear, “ _…ETA to Grav-well separation, T-minus Thirty.”_

_‘Showtime.’_

His finger pressed the button. He owed Mic some snacks to thank him for teaching him how to do this dramatic shit.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the crew _Artemis_ and surrounding Commonwealth fleet, today, we guide candidates for the program of heroics and combat of the U.A. Academy to begin for some, their first journey beyond a familiar star. For others, this moment may hold a somewhat dull torch of familiarity by now, however, I would like to stress the importance of joining such an exclusive club of humanity’s finest. Do not take this opportunity for granted. Be proud of your achievements thus far but know its consequence. For many, this is where your journey can be made or broken. However, know that today, you are all together for the first time. And soon in close to Fourteen days, your time aboard my ship shall close, your fates likely set in stone before you even get off its very decks. From the rest of Manticore, I wish you all luck, and know that if nothing else…you have brought pride to the entirety of our Species for stepping up to the call of duty. Be it heroics, naval endeavors, or some other enterprise. Rear, and Fleet Admirals…do you copy.

_‘Jump drive’s hyper drives are fully charged…we should be ready in T-minus ten should all things go smoothly.’_

**_“This is the CNS EXECUTOR loud and clear.”_ **

_“This is the CNS IMPERITOR at your call Artemis, are you ready to depart?”_

“This is Captain Aizawa of the CNS Artemis, requesting permission for departure for U.A. from Sol. Are we all clear for jump?”

A moment of silence fills the air…the students irrespective of experience grip their seats in anticipation.

_“The Imperitor clears this fleet operation, congratulations to our perspective students, our heading is set…Executor are you clear?”_

A pause…stomachs clench, cold sweats hold out…the radio clears.

**_“To the young heroes and officers of perspective futures, I wish you the best of luck for this voyage, and for the trials ahead of you. Your spirits, I hope, are strong, and to those around you who do not share such ambitions, worry not! Your contributions are notable, and I appreciate them all. For a functional Commonwealth is a STRONG Commonwealth. God Speed Artemis. Let’s show these Rookies a fine time. Again, good luck. Your worlds are proud of you…and hopefully your academia awaits. Artemis…I leave the honor of joint jump control to you. Congratulations Captain! The fleet is with you, synchronization should be clear! Shall we?”_ **

“Thank you both, it is an honor to do so for such an occasion…Commander?” He turns to joke with a hand pointing to a handle. “Could you pull that lever for me?”

“Yes SIR!” She springs from her harness a bit as she stretches to pull the leaver. A small button pops up on the battleship’s captain consol.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, for those of you who know it…welcome back to the void…for those who know it for the first time. Brace.”

He looks over the group before him on the lower deck, glancing for familiar students and to see if any and all are prepped…not a single chair is empty.

“Three.”

He glares at the void.

“Two.”

His hand raises a bit…he never would admit the satisfaction.

“One.”  
But by god, _‘It’s something to get to do this…thank you principal.’_

His hand slams into the button and panel in a closed fist, he knew Majima would skin him alive for treating the panel so carelessly…but he wanted dramatic effect, even if it was just for his flight crew.

“Hyperlane jump IS A GO!”

A flash…and the universe came to blend around them, as the force began to push them back into their seats.

“Congrats kids…How’s it feel to be among the few to exist to go faster than light?!” Joke cackled from her chair with glee…his own grin split wildly onto his face…there was indeed something to be said for the thrill of hyperspace.

_‘Fuck you in particular… relativity.’_

____________________________________________________

The air in his lungs collapsed.

His heart stopped at all the streaks of color and light which glide over the canopy. His hands began trembling, tears threatened to spill from his eyes. And as he couldn’t peel them away…he felt something between elation, surprise, and pride pass through him in seconds.

FTL…faster than light. Long thought a bout of fiction and a pipe dream to even some of the brightest minds of past centuries. 

And here he was…of the few percent of humanity to have ever been a part of it. To witness the vivid living color of light passing by, to for his first time, watch the universe go by in a lovely blend of blues, reds, stark whites, yellows, orange, and all manner of color he could yet describe. The spectrum of light flashed before him so beautifully that he hazarded a chance to record every bit of it that he could to faithful memory.

The rest of the room had stayed silent as well, both being respectful to those among them who were new to the experiences…and still somewhat mesmerized themselves. Although he whispers a quiet thank you to his mother and All Might once more. He could never thank anyone who supported his trek across the stars as much as he would them.

He might later make additions to this statement. But suffice to say he was at the forefront of his own happiness at the current reality before him. Of course,…he wasn’t the only one nerd-ing out quite this hard.

A certain Uraraka Ochako to his right suppressed a joyous squeal. She hadn’t missed a single one of these since their departure from Pamona. She LOVED IT. To pass by millennia of particles over the course of hours was something amazing to her. Getting past the first time’s queasiness was important, since the light did something to her similar to her gravity nullification’s overload on the first jump she ever took.

But she regretted not a moment. Not a microsecond.

Because she was bending reality to her voyage, to reach distant worlds, and distant peoples who might cry out for help or protection…

She peeled her eyes away to see the reaction on the first timer faces.

She’d have gasped if something hadn’t lodged in her windpipe.

A bundle of nerves, joy, sadness, and something she didn’t recognize.

In that order.

Itsuka was holding hands over her mouth. Tears streaking down her face at the spectacle, shaking in what appeared to be pride and overwhelming joy…that she could empathize with.

But Midoriya…Izuku.

Well, he appeared to be every color of the rainbow of emotion as the very light outside. She couldn’t look away from such unrivaled emotion. Even if for a few moments she caught this small, sad flash across his face, it hadn’t been terribly long into the jump before she’d looked to find reactions; it was just as soon replaced with something of a bright righteous fury, then determination, joy, and then awe…followed by something she couldn’t describe like that which was lodged in her throat.

Because as tears streaked down his face, a relaxed, amazed and dare she use the word _loving_ tremble overtook his features. It was so tender, hopeful, and proud that she couldn’t help but wonder what it must have been like for him. To experience something, he was so very passionate about for the first time…like she had several days ago. It felt so private and intimate that she scolded herself for staring too long.

She hoped he didn’t feel weird about that.

She wouldn’t admit to herself or anyone else that she’d liked that stare.

Or how much she hoped she’d see it again.

_______________________________________________________

As the time ticked on for a few moments, everyone was drawn out of their awe by a now relaxed Captain Aizawa over the intercom.

_“Attention to all perspectus students. Congrats on observing your first jump aboard the Artemis…and for the students of Unity. Congrats on your first Jump.”_

The students from other areas clapped and congratulated the ones they knew from unity. Bakugou among them begrudgingly accepted it from his shitty haired red headed roommate.

Izuku and Itsuka quietly dried their tears as Uraraka and Itsuka gave them quiet, but happy congratulations of their own.

“ _Now, for all of you, I would advise you to find your way back to your rooms for the ‘night’ and get some shuteye. This jump will last twelve hours or so, thusly I will expect you all to be present to get out of the jump by ‘morning’. We have seven days to U.A. and at least that many back to the gateway systems once we jump to U.A. space through Jump warp. To the crew, you know our schedules and rotations. That is all.”_  
  


Izuku felt his world slow once more.

_‘Oh…yea. Bedtime.’_

_‘Shit.’_

____________________________________________________

Ibara and Itsuka said their goodnights at the door and walked over to their adjacent room, as he and Uraraka walked back into their own. Her with a certain bounce to her step after the hyperspace jump’s commence that he couldn’t place…but really liked. Although, he was more akin to a bot by how stiff he moved.

He was nervous, sue him.

Uraraka began to undo her covers as she rambled on about hyperjump. “Gosh! I absolutely LOVE how this feels, isn’t it just amazing?! We’re basically telling the old standards of relativity to screw themselves by wrapping ourselves in a temporal curtain and just PLOWING through space like butter! And to think it was just a point three-digit reconsideration of quantum entanglement that even allowed us to stumble upon the theoretical math that made this possible in the first place!”

He felt like he was watching something of an out of body experience…this rambling was somewhat challenging his own. Just, more about space, and less about heroics.

It was _so cool._

Although he quit staring to move his own covers back robotically, going through the motions of pre bed prep.

Was she not…well concerned that he was here?

Not offended that he was here?

Was he being weird?

He really didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

And yet, as they both got situated and she snuggled into her own covers, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her bubbly smile. It made his stomach sink, and his heartbeat race. She was so nice.

He did take the time to turn his face upward to avoid feeling any weirder though, after all he didn’t want to be rude or inconsiderate. She probably wouldn’t—

“Hey…Midoriya?” a quiet, calm, and above all nice tone swept across the room to him.

He paused and did his best to answer back as coherently as he felt reasonable.

“Y-yea?” _‘NAILED IT!’_

“Thanks, for being such a cool roommate so far, I mean…uh well for first day impressions anyway.”

He hoped beyond hope that he could keep up that reputation a full two weeks.

“And um…I wanted to say sorry.”

_‘Say what now?’_

“Wh-what about?”

“I…well I was worried before you got here that uh…well that you might be a pervert or something, and well…I uh. Hope you know that I think you’re really nice. So…i-if we both make it through this a-and get in U.A. um.”

He couldn’t bring his eyes to her, although, he felt oddly happy that she already thought so highly of him. It’d only been a day after all, and he’d done nothing special.

“Could we be friends?” His heart dropped. His brain froze. And he could swear, his eyes bugged out a bit (they did). Although he didn’t cry…he was all cried out for the day.

It felt like weeks, even if it had been just a few hours. He looked over, and she was looking right at him, he could feel it in the room’s barely lit state from the safety navigation night light (very soft orange glow). She looked…ethereal in this brief moment to him. Like some kind angel had finally answered his prayers.

…A real friend?

…

“Y-yea. I…I’d like that.”

_________________________________________________________

Location:????????????????????

A quiet, joyous squeal ripped through the observation room not too far from Nedzu’s last known location.

“YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! EHHEHEHEHEHEEEE! OH, I LOVE IT! ITS ADORABLE! <3 NEDZU FLICK OVER TO ROOM 2016 BLOCK 4-3 THIS INSTANT AND ADD IT TO THE COOOOOOMP! ITS SO FUCKING CUTE! 4000 CREDITS THEY GET TOGETHER BY GRADUATION! I FREAKING SHIP IT!”

Nedzu chuckled in the coffee room as he studied his data-pad for a second. And for a brief moment, a small genuine smile crossed his face. _‘Yea…I love this job.’_

“I’ll take that action Nemuri, I’ll raise it to 5 and say by the end of second year.”

Her giggles filled the hall as Ectoplasm and his clones groan at many of his monitors. 

_‘Here we go again.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watashi GA KITA!!!!!! I RETUUUUUURN LIKE A HEEERROOOOOOOOOOO! Welcome back everyone! I...uh. Well I have no true excuse for disappearing so long beyond, the inspiration hath not struck me, and finally began to this week (Whereby I began to slowly build away at this chapter). Since we're going off the beaten path just a weeee bit, I wanted to be extra careful about articulating characters, both for comedic purposes, and for my own satisfaction. 
> 
> Question is, do ya like what I've done with the view?  
> After I got over introducing such a wildcard character, (You'd be surprised how hard it is to find good Ibara content) I settled for a blend of her from a variety of other media. Including but not limited to Total Command and many others which I have read before, rather than a stoic hyper strict character. Hope you like that, at any rate, I also wanted to be careful about how I built aspects of the adjustment, and Uraraka herself. I am, by no means a woman, but I AM a country kid who moved off to ever growing cities to try and make a name for myself and care for my family. THAT base is where a lot of her character is stemmed from, plus again, a ton of referential material, including the actual series proper.  
> Nedzu on the other hand....well he was for FUN!  
> I also had to log back into stellaris and just...play it a bit to gather a hair more inspiration. Possible plot points, events, dangerous monstrosities to encounter, among other things. 
> 
> Life is also kicking up a bit, and I'm gearing up to get back to work for the fall...whatever the university decides is best to do. Which hasn't had me nervous...at all. Yeaaaaaa....
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this! While perhaps not always as super regular as I was at the start, I hope the days in the story will start to pick up speed to match up more with the original timeline. The Gala at the end will be something to consider, which I hope you all hath not forgot...heeheheheheee. I know...devilish thought I am, these two idiots are stuck with eachother! And it will be GLORIOUS. Once the actual "School" arcs begin, this story will likely not be as terribly divergent from cannon in some ways. Although, I've some...fun planed. Nothing too terribly bad...just fun~. 
> 
> I apologize if I missed anything in the edit, but me thinks this shall do swimmingly.
> 
> More to come! Stay tuned!

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooooooooooooooo hope this wasn't boring. Its a prologue if anything, and I wrote it with the full understanding that its more of a prompt than anything. I wanted to wait until after Fathers day to post, and I also didn't know when best to post would be. Let me know what you think, criticism is more than welcome, and I honestly hope you enjoyed the first bit here. There will be a level of absurdity in this fic, considering the universe it takes place in. I recently picked up Stellaris a few weeks ago and have been hooked.


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